LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

5- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



nm » w* 



^SERMONS-*- 



FOR THE TIMES. 



BY REV. A. P. McFERRIN. 



"We ZPreacli not Ourselves, "but Clirist .Tesiis 
th.e Lord."-Paul. 



: KfS^ 




NASHVILLE, TESTN.: 
BOTJTHEBN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

1884. 



THE LIBJUJtvl 
OF CONGRESS I 

[WASHlKOTOIfl 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, 

BY A. P. McFERRIN, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 

KTTMBEB PAGE 

1. Ah Important Question 5 

2. God Speaking to the TTorld 17 

3. The Tree Light 27 

4. The One Mediator 36 

5. The Two Adams 45 

6. The Beeiee that Saves , 62 

7. Martha and Mary 75 

S. Mount Zion, or the Church 89 

9. Gathering ep the Fragments 93 

10. Business and Religion 106 

11. a double-minded man 116 

12. Demanding a Sign 124 

13. Up with the Times 139 

14. John the Baptist Sends to Jesus 149 

15. Troublous Times 162 

16. Spiritual Giets 171 

17. The Tongue 1S3 

IS. Prayer 190 

19. Fretting 203 

20. The Seven Churches oe Asia 210 

21. Abraham's Liee oe Faith 22S 

22. What to Preach 236 

23. Jesus and the Ruler oe the Synagogue 245 

24. Where are the Xine? 257 

25. Paul at Athens 271 

26. Eternal Liee — What is It ? 285 

27. The Gospel Commission 296 

28. The Great Hereaeter 307 



SERMONS. 



AN IMPORTANT QUESTION, 



"What think ye of Christ?" Matthew xxiL 42. 

THE fact that the Great Teacher should have 
propounded this question is of itself a refuta- 
tion of the inuendoes of unbelievers, that the hopes 
inspired by Christianity rest on the basis of an 
unquestioning, unreasoning credulity. Here, it is 
the Master himself who appeals to the rational, 
thoughtful consideration of candid minds: "What 
think ye?" 

Though the question was primarily addressed to 
those standing in his immediate presence, yet, as 
it has been incorporated into the divine record, 
it thereby becomes virtually addressed to every 
thoughtful mind, and is to us, here and now, of as 
vital personal concern as to those who first heard it 
from his own lips. 

That we may get this question the more directly 
and appreciatively before us, I will, first of all, make 
a general but brief statement. 

More than eighteen hundred years ago, there ap- 
peared in Judea a man by the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth, known to subsequent ages as Jesus the 

(5) 



6 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Christ. When he began to be about thirty years of 
age, he appeared before the world as a public teach- 
er; and such was the power of his words, such the 
wonder of his works, that he soon attracted to him- 
self a considerable following. His followers were 
called Christians because of him whom they re- 
garded as the Christ; and the flow of that follow-, 
ing has been onward clown the current of ages to 
this day and hour, with ever-increasing numbers 
and ever-expanding influence. They are to be found 
in this assembly, all over this country, and in well- 
nigh every habitable region of the world. Their 
history may be traced back through the concurrent 
histories of past centuries for upward of eighteen 
hundred years to him as the source of their origin. 
Such has been the impress of his teachings as 
to largely change the manners and customs of the 
nations of the earth, to modify the constitutions, 
laws, and governments thereof, and to so readjust 
the chronology of the world as to cause its great 
epochs and annals of important events to be reck- 
oned as anterior or posterior to his appearing in the 
world. The arts, sciences, literature, and commerce 
of all the powerful nations of the world bear the 
impress of his influence. Think for a moment of 
the immense and varied transactions occurring in 
any one day amid the activities of this progressive 
age! And yet, the edicts of kings, the proclama- 
tions of governors, the enactments of legislatures, 
the verdicts of courts of justice, together with 
every morning paper issued, and the multiplied 
transactions involving the passing of deeds, mort- 



An Important Question. 7 

gages, bills, notes, receipts, etc., all bear on the face 
thereof some reference to Him, all showing that they 
were transacted on such a clay, of such a month, of 
such a year — say 1884. Eighteen hundred and 
eighty-four — what? Why, eighteen hundred and 
eighty-four years since Jesus of ZsTazareth made his 
appearance in the world. 

It is observable, too, that those nations which have 
received his teachings are the only ones that have 
made rapid advancement in all things that pertain 
to the welfare— the intellectual, moral, and social ele- 
vation — of mankind; that so great have become their 
power and resources that, though numerically in 
the minority, they could by a combination among 
themselves make a ready and easy conquest of the 
rest of the nations; and yet, strange to say, there 
is not the remotest desire on their part to do this, 
but they would rather rejoice that the other nations 
of the earth should become like sharers in the man- 
ifold advantages which they enjoy — a complete re- 
versal of the spirit which governed all nations prior 
to the appearance of this Great Teacher, when 
conquest was the universal rule and inability the 
only exception. 

The world has been enriched by many illustrious 
characters, honored while living and lamented when 
dead; but their personal influence has been limited 
inainly to their own times. America has had its 
Washington, and Europe its Napoleon; but by the 
time a century shall have passed over their graves, 
their personal influence will have faded away into 
the forgotten realms of the past. But not so with 



8 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

the man Christ Jesus. Though the nineteenth cent- 
ury is now on its home-stretch since he appeared 
in the world, the impress of his name, his teach- 
ings, his spirit, is this day and hour more diffusive- 
ly wide-spread and vividly felt than ever before — 
keeping abreast of all times, and leading, rather 
than following, the march of the centuries. 

Therefore, the question, "What think ye of 
Christ? " becomes invested with illimitable interest, 
and never more so than in this inquiring and pro- 
gressive age. And surely one owes it to himself, to 
the age in which he lives, to the world he is passing 
through, to those who have gone before him, and 
to those who shall come after him, to take up this 
question and give it his sober, careful thought, in or- 
der to its satisfactory solution. 

I do not here propose to point out in so many 
words the conclusions which you should arrive at, 
as it would likely be more satisfactory to reach 
these in your own way; and this would be follow- 
ing the mode of the Master, who propounds the 
question, leaving the answer for those to whom it 
is addressed. I simply desire to call your attention 
to a few very strange and wonderful facts, but just 
such as should be taken into the account, and dis- 
posed of in some way, in order that one may come 
to satisfactory conclusions of what he really thinks 
of Christ. And the facts I wish to mention are not 
disputed facts, but admitted facts — known and read 
of all men, whether they be Jew or Gentile, Greek 
or barbarian, learned or unlearned. 



An Important Question. 9 

The First Fad to which I Call Your Attention 

I will state by reminding you that we are assembled 
on this occasion, with its pleasant surroundings, for 
the express purpose of hearing something more 
concerning this Jesus of Nazareth. And at this 
hour there are thousands upon thousands of con- 
gregations assembled throughout the world, for the 
same purpose. It was so last Sunday, and on all 
the Sundays of the past year, and of all the pre- 
ceding years of this century; and so continual- 
ly for the last eighteen hundred years. Think for 
a moment — if the mind be capable of surveying the 
almost boundless range — of all that has been spoken 
and written, week by week, day by day, for nearly 
two thousand years, of the one continuous theme 
concerning Jesus of Xazareth! I submit to you 
that if the continuous theme had been of any other 
character of earth's history, the subject would long 
since have become stale, threadbare, and surfeiting 
to an intolerable degree. The same audience might 
be well entertained in hearing a few lectures con- 
cerning any one of the many illustrious characters 
which the world's history furnishes; but the bare 
thought of the same hearers coming together, week 
by week, from ten to fifteen years, to listen to dis- 
courses about the same person, is revolting to the 
human mind. But not so with Jesus the Christ. 
The world has been hearing of him week by week 
for eighteen hundred years, and listens to-day with 
intenser interest than ever before. Every renewed 
approach to the subject where he is the theme opens 
up before the mind with an ever-expanding, ever- 



;; Sebxoss :t A. P. McFebrih 

enhancing into:--:. There . . : those whose life- 

: has :he preaching of his 

md the study :: his words and works; and 

will aver, at the end :: twenty, forty] :: fifty 

3, that instead :: exhausting the theme they 

as Lough ; : - : more than fiilly en- 

I ::::: the :::v:::^ :: the -:';;e::, It :s the :::-? 

great theme, and the mly ::.::-. that is forever new, 

tires, that grows I. Here, then, 

wonderful fact without -;;*rallel, but such as 

ah ; q] 1 be considered in roe's estimate : : Jesus. 

A " ' fPi \ f ' F I 

Tl history c: fer:s — of what he *aid and what 

he li .". — i s : : ntain ; 3 in the 2 r :~" T^s:: :::-:::. :.:;.kes 

up a comparatively small volume, requiring but a 

few 3asy sittings :: read it through; and yet there 

are millions : persons, : : and -criminating 

understandings, whe have attentively read it and 

from ten to fifty years, and will avei 

subsequent reading has eu with in- 

" rest, its \ : _. - _' : """. : _ with 

cove -enhancing ap- 

Select the sj of matter 

that the world has 

thii _ it the life-long 

Ling and thin _ <nd the 

a at the th'" .' " :'::.: - - ".:-:: . ". - - - 

ington,one 
■ 

it with . b ^vith 



As Important Question. 11 

the history of the words and works of Jesus; it is 
not only always up with the times, but leads the lit- 
erature and thought of the foremost ranks — requir- 
ing the latest improved printing-presses with their 
lightning-like speed and untiring energy to supply 
its ever-increasing demand. 

And Now, Another Still More Wonderful Fact. 

I confess myself at a loss to give proper expres- 
sion to the supreme importance which, in my esti- 
mation, attaches to the fact to which I now invite 
your attention. To my mind, it is not a whit less 
marvelous than the wonders displayed on the day 
of Pentecost; and the reason, I suppose, why it does 
not excite our astonishment is that we have been 
familiar with it all our lives. 

I refer to the personal, fervent love of Christians 
for Jesus. Countless witnesses now, as in time past, 
joyfully testify to this fact. Many among them are 
of the wisest and best specimens of the race, who 
are ready to declare that the} T , in their heart of 
hearts, do love Jesus with a personal, passionate, 
undying love — a love not exceeded by that of love 
to father, mother, brother, sister, kindred dear; and 
that their personal love binds them to Him with a 
nearness and clearness superlatively above all other 
comparisons. If this be so, then the man Christ 
Jesus is the only one of the human race — from the 
first man of paradise clown to the man who died a 
hundred years ago — of whom such a fact, even in 
a remote degree, could be possible. For it is not 
within the range of human capacity to entertain a 
personal, heart-felt love for any mere character of 



12 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

history, however worthy and eminent the person 
that bore it. We may revere the name and mem- 
ory of such a one — may commend the noble and 
generous deeds of his life, and admire the wisdom of 
his teachings and the luster of his preeminent virt- 
ues — but to love such a one as Christians love Jesus 
is simply impossible; a fact which one can readily 
test for himself by an act of introspection appeal- 
ing to his own consciousness. 

But here is one — Jesus of Uazaretli — who lived 
nearly two thousand years ago, on the other side of 
the globe, belonging to a strange tribe of people, 
speaking in a tongue unknown to us; and yet, to 
this day and hour, he reigns in the hearts of his fol- 
lowers as the supreme object of their affections, 
thrilling the emotions of their souls with a sense of 
love sweeter than life and stronger than death. 

Thus are we confronted with a phenomenon be- 
fore which we may well pause and wonder. It 
cannot be disposed of by ascribing it to a strange 
delusion which has unceasingly pursued its way 
down the track of ages. True, there have been 
strange delusions in the world, but they are gener- 
ally short-lived. But love cannot be a delusion— it 
is a simple matter of fact, or it is nothing. The emo- 
tion, whether of love or hate, joy or grief, has no 
existence outside the domain of certitude. If love 
exist, it exists as a conscious fact, and there are no 
other means of its identification. If the mother 
knows she loves her child, she knows it as a conscious 
fact; and though no one in the world may doubt the 
fact, she cannot prove it. Conscious facts admit of 



An Important Question. 13 

no proofs: for all attempted proofs are weak and 
worthless, compared with the facts themselves. 

There can be no question of the reality of the love 
for Christ avowed by his followers; for to assume it 
to be a falsehood perpetuated for eighteen centuries 
by millions of people of different nations and 
tongues, embracing the artless innocency of youth, 
the sturdiness of middle age. and the serenity of 
hoary locks, would be to abandon all hope of ever 
verifying such a thing as human veracity. 

We Pass to Another Wonderful Fact. 

I point you to the wide-spread belief which pre- 
vails that Jesus arose from the dead. Intimations 
of this were given out by Jesus himself just before 
his death: and as a matter of fact, it is declared by 
numerous witnesses that on the third day after his 
death he did arise from the grave, and that after a 
further sojourn of forty days he ascended up to 
heaven. Xow. that the said occurrence did actu- 
ally transpire has been believed without the shadow 
oi a doubt by millions of people now living, to- 
gether with unnumbered millions who have pre- 
ceded the present generation; and among them 
has ever been found large numbers of the wisest and 
disereetest specimens of our race. 

Now, I submit to you the utter impossibility of 
such a belief ever obtaining even a respectable local 
following concerning any other person who has ever 
lived in the world. Only a little reflection here will 
make manifest the insuperable difficulties in the way 
of such a belief gaining credence in any other o-iven 



14 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

case. Indeed, if we consider the version of the mat- 
ter as given by his enemies, we are confronted with 
an anomaly in human history only a little less 
strange than the version of the matter as given by 
his friends; for it may be safely said that since 
the world began it is the only instance in which a 
guard of soldiers was ever placed over a grave, either 
to prevent the dead body from rising to life or his 
friends from stealing it to make people believe that 
he was alive. And it may be safely affirmed that 
in no other instance, in any age or clime, could any 
man or combination of men have worked up a sim- 
ilar case that could have been dignified with even a 
denial of its truth. So, looking at the matter this 
w r ay or that way, the wonder still remains. 

Bear it in mind that we are not now considering 
the fact whether Jesus did or did not rise from the 
dead, but only the continuous and wide-spread 
belief that he did — a belief which is as vital and po- 
tent to-day as it was with those living at the time of 
the first announcement of the event. To say the 
least of it, we are here brought face to face with a 
phenomenon of history before which the world 
stands dumbfounded. 

The fact of the resurrection of Jesus is homoge- 
neous with the fact of his ascension to heaven. The 
verification of either one is, unquestionably, the ver- 
ification of both. And singularly enough, his fol- 
lowers claim that just before his death Jesus made 
provision for, and pointed out the way by which, 
his resurrection and ascension to heaven may be- 
come ascertainable and verified facts to every serious 



An Important Question. 15 

inquirer for all time to come; so that they may be- 
come as indubitable facts to those who live in the 
nineteenth century, or later, as to those who were 
eye-witnesses of the events. To such as entertain 
a heart-felt desire to know for a certainty that he is 
indeed alive for evermore with his Father in heaven 
he promised to give a sign or token, designated as the 
Comforter, which was to abide w^ith his true fol- 
lowers for all time to come, and staked the final 
issue of all the hopes he had inspired on the fulfill- 
ment of this pledge. And countless multitudes now 
alive, as well as those in times past, declare that 
this pledge has been fulfilled; and that the divine 
Comforter has come to them, whereby they know 
of a certainty that he who was dead is alive for 
evermore. 

Hence, his followers insist that they have been 
widely misunderstood and misinterpreted; that in- 
stead of basing their confidence on the vapory foun- 
dation of a beautiful myth and its hopeful probabil- 
ities, they have, in the realized presence of the Com- 
forter, a conscious fact on which to rest; and that 
conscious facts furnish the only possible founda- 
tion for all truth of last resort. And inasmuch as 
the Comforter can come only from the risen and as- 
cended Lord who vouchsafed it, they claim that a 
ready explanation is thereby afforded for the many 
wonderful things connected with Jesus which have 
no parallel in human affairs. 

While so many are puzzled to reach a satisfactory 
conclusion as to what they really think of Christ, 
his most devout followers are ever furnished with 



16 Sekmons by A. P. McFerrin. 

a ready answer. They would say he Ls the Bon ;: 

God. and that that is the one great fact which ac- 
counts for all the rest: whereby he is "the chiefest 

among ten thousand." and "altogether lovelv. ,; 
And as such he becomes to sorrowing, dying hu- 
manity the "all in ah" — more than wealth, more 
than health, more than life, more than heaven it- 
self; for 

Not all the harps above 

Could make a heavenly place, 

If He his residence remove;, 
Or but conceal hie 

Iii conclusion. I commend to my resj :-:ted hear- 
er the question. What thickest thou of Christ? 
Let it have the chiefest place in your mind an ] the 
warmest place in your heart, and never dismiss it, 
never let it depart, till you have reached its satisfac- 
tory solution: and I trust that the sum and sub- 
stance of that solution will be the conscious assur- 
ance of "Christ in you the hope of glory." 



GOD SPEAKING TO THE WORLD, 



"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past 
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken 
unto us by his Son." Hebrews i. 1, 2. 

THE greatest mistake the world ever made, and 
still makes, is in regarding its Maker as God 
afar off. Of all errors, this is widest of the truth 
and the most pernicious in its consequences. On 
the contrary, God is not only in the world omni- 
present, but is more intimately related to every hu- 
man being than the breath of the nostrils; so near 
that we may " haply feel after him and find him." 
He who made the world controls it — controls it 
now ; and the controlling of it is as direct and per- 
sonal as was the making of it. 

Not only is he in the world and near unto us, but 
he has spoken to it, and has been speaking to it, 
from the beginning. The " voice of the Lord God 
walking in the garden," heard by the first man of 
earth, has been heard from that clay to this. If, 
therefore, ignorance and darkness have attended 
the fortunes of our unhappy world, it has not been 
for the lack of the available sources of light and 
knowledge. 

The occasions were so frequent and the ways so 
numerous, as evinced by the "divers manners" in 
which God spake to the world in former times, as to 

2 (17) 



18 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

leave no room for misapprehension or innocent mis- 
take. The inspired prophets were the chosen in- 
struments to proclaim God's will. They were the 
teachers of his holy religion, to instruct man in ref- 
erence to his duty; to encourage him in the ways 
of obedience, to denounce his vices, and to warn 
him of threatened judgments. The instructions 
thus afforded were sufficient to sustain the faith and 
courage of the ancient saints; though it might be 
in the midst of labors, suffering perils, " enduring 
as seeing Him who is invisible." 

The " times past," here referred to, embrace the 
entire history of the human race, from the begin- 
ning to the coming of Christ. Revelation had not 
received its complete fullness, as shown forth under 
the gospel dispensation. The prophets and those 
of eminent piety were well aware of this fact; and 
many of them "desired to see" and to "hear the 
things" which we of gospel times so richly enjoy. 
Nevertheless, the volume of revelation was contin- 
ually unfolding itself sufficiently to meet the neces- 
sities of each successive generation, producing its 
illustrious examples of righteousness from the time 
of faithful Abel to the clay of pious Simeon. 

Angelic messengers, audible voices out of heaven, 
visions, were some of the means of intercommunica- 
f tion between earth and heaven, leaving no room to 
doubt the true import of the communications re- 
ceived, nor of the real source whence they ema- 
nated. Nor need we suppose that they caused any 
undue excitement or perturbation of spirit; or, at 
most, perhaps ftothing beyond what may "now be 



God Speaking to tee ^Vokld. 19 

realized in clevoutlv pondering the divine messages 
as we have them in the written Word. "When 
Abraham entertained the angels in front of his tent 
door, and held friendly converse with them, doubt- 
less the occasion was so shaded with the appearance 
of naturalness as to shield him from antthincr like 
a sense of dismay or undue embarrassment; but 
still without a shadow of doubt on his mind of the 
real character of the guests whom he was entertain- 
ing, or the divine import of the communications 
made to him. 

From intimations afforded us, it seems safe to con- 
clude that prophets and priests were common to the 
earlier nations, thus affording sufficient guidance in 
matters of duty, and of the worship of God. Hea- 
thenism and idol-worship had no place in man's ear- 
liest religious surroundings: these are the fruits of his 
own perversions and vices, and are witnesses against 
him of a lapse from a far nobler beginning. He has 
never known any religion worthy of the name, 
save that inculcated by divine wisdom and grace. 
We hear something indeed about natural religion, 
but its reality is, at best, apocryphal. Xature is a 
wise teacher in natural things; but the i; natural 
man discerneth not the things of the spirit, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned, :? and any at- 
tempt to assign them to the same paternity is but 
an evidence of human presumption. 

Thus, God spake in times past unto the fathers: 

but for us of these last days is the privilege of 

ing the finished glories of his redemption. 

Think for a moment of the sreat honor conferred on 



20 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

our world by this personal visitation of the Son of 
God. Who is it that thus stands, face to face, in 
gracious converse with humanity? It is the Pro- 
prietor of all things, who comes to claim us as his 
own. To make reconciliation, he veils himself in 
our comrnen nature, participates in our griefs and 
misfortunes, sympathizes with our sorrows and suf- 
ferings, and all with a graciousness of manner that 
none other could approach unto. 

God had. hitherto sent numerous messengers to 
speak to his rebellious children; but now he says, 
I will send my Son; him will they reverence. Pre- 
vious messengers had come with the only authority 
of " Thus saith the Lord;" but the Son, who now 
speaks,, enforces his words with the authority of, 
"Xsay unto you." And let none make the fatal 
mistake of lightly esteeming the authority with 
which he speaks. For, while he comes in the meek 
and lowly habiliments of " a Man of sorrows," while 
he prays for- his enemies and weeps over the unfort- 
unate, there is a power in reserve, ready to come 
forth at his bidding, before which nature itself shall 
stand in awe, wickedness shall turn pale, and devils 
fear and tremble. He came to speak to the world, 
and some who listened to his words declared that 
"never man spake like this man;" and the intelli- 
gence of nearly nineteen centuries indorses the ver- 
dict. The record of his words furnished us, limited 
as compared with tire vast volume of his utterances 
during his years of ministrations, is a store-house of 
food for the thoughtful for all after generations. 
Hia Sermon on the Mount, a twenty minutes' dis- 



God Speaking to the World. 21 

course, has been pondered for eighteen hundred 
years, without abatement of the freshness and vigor 
with which it fell from his lips. 

The blaze of light attending the great truths — 
hitherto hidden from mortal view, and now made 
known — was a sudden surprise to the world; and a 
glance at these truths was sufficient to change the 
whole aspect of the fortunes and destiny of human- 
ity. His announcement, which most of all thrilled 
the souls of mankind with amazing delight, was that 
of the fatherhood of God — that God of whom they 
had hitherto thought as dwelling in some remote 
sphere, and possessing attributes suggesting to their 
minds apprehensions of dread, and fearful misgiv- 
ings. But now, beholding his parental care and 
goodness, of which human parental love is only a 
feeble type, awakes in them the grateful conception 
of a claim to the highest nobility, of which they had 
never dreamed. 

The revealment of the fatherhood of God prepared 
the way for the announcement of the brotherhood 
of man, a truth which must ultimately work a rad- 
ical change in the conduct and bearing of mankind, 
obliterating clannish selfishness and the cruel con- 
flicts which have so widely cursed the earth, result- 
ing in the merging of all human interests into the 
mold of a great family, inspired with the common 
hope of better things to come. And again, this 
view the better prepares us for the proper appreci- 
ation of the truth that love is the predominant feat- 
ure, the controlling power, in all that pertains to 
the divine economy. 



22 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

God himself is love; the great work of redemp- 
tion is the out-beaming of his love; and love is the 
tie that unites his children to himself. His chas- 
tenings are the products of his love, and though all 
else may fail, " love never faileth." The reiterations 
of Christ to his disciples to "love one another" im- 
plies much more, as we may readily believe, than 
merely a becoming meetness for their personal asso- 
ciations; but also point to the tact that love consti- 
tutes the ruling element of life, fitting it for the 
present work of winning souls to Christ, as well 
as the fitting of it for things future and eternal. 
Love is the summary process for the fulfilling of the 
law, the mighty weapon to subdue a sinful world to 
God — the last, best argument to win back the erring 
hearts of fallen humanity. "We love him because 
he first loved us. Thus, in these last days, has God 
spoken unto us by his Son. Hear, then, his voice; 
it is the voice of the " Friend of sinners " — the voice 
of encouragement, saying, "Be not afraid; it is I" 
— the voice of greeting, saying, " Come unto me, and 
find rest for your souls." 

There is no truth comparable to "the truth as it 
is in Jesus." It is the leaven of the world; and the 
leavening process is steadily and surely working out 
its destined results. Signs are propitious for a 
hastening on to better days than earthly eyes ever 
beheld. The developments of the last fifty years 
have been marvelous, affording more substantial 
evidences of hopeful progress than any five centu- 
ries of the Christian era preceding them. The im- 
pulses with which human enterprises and invention? 



God Speaking to the World. 23 

have been quickened have multiplied the resources 
for physical comfort and mental culture beyond all 
comparison with former times. The utilization of 
steam, electricity, and other natural resources israp- 
idly bringing the whole world into near neighbor- 
hood; and the social relations and commercial in- 
terests naturally growing out of this new order of 
things w^ould seem to hasten the time when the na- 
tions shall not "learn war any more." 

The thoughtful Christian w T ill readily interpret 
these propitious unfoldings as being under the ad- 
ministrations of Providence, by which the gospel is 
so- suddenly finding an open door of entrance to al- 
most all parts of the world. A look into the his- 
torv of the most civilized nations will show the won- 
derfal improvement in the humane and moral sen- 
timents of mankind. The Scriptures are being 
widely disseminated and eagerly read as never be- 
fore. The idol temples of heathen nations are fall- 
ing into decay and neglect. At Rome, right under 
the shadow of the Vatican, the morning papers are 
being read, religious tracts and Bibles are being dis- 
tributed, Sunday-schools are being operated, and the 
gospel is being freely and fearlessly preached by va- 
rious Protestant denominations — a realization which 
a third of a century ago the most acute foresight 
could not have anticipated. And during this pe- 
riod the sentiment of the civilized w T orld has rebelled 
against the further persecution of the Jews, caus- 
ing its cessation, except in a few localities, which 
can only briefly survive the frown of indignation 
that the perpetrators thereby bring upon themselves. 



24 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

These are but a few of the catalogue of facts which 
might be mentioned, going to show the better and 
more hopeful phase of our times. Great indeed is 
the contrast between the " times past" and "these 
last days," as set forth in the text; but the one fact 
that marks the contrast is that God now speaks by 
his Son. 

It is true that the fathers in their day were no 
strangers to the charms of eloquence. Their Jobs, 
Isaiahs, Davids, portrayed their heavenly images in 
sublimest strains, which have continued to thrill the 
souls of every successive generation. But there is a 
majestic tone in the voice of the Son of God, who 
now speaks, to which nothing human or angelic 
may aspire. His were words of light, life, and 
power, that rifted away the clouds which had so 
long shut out the sunlight of heaven, and rolled 
off from the heart of humanity the burden which 
had so grievously oppressed it. Under the inspira- 
tion of his voice, withered hopes began to revive, and 
the bruises of humanity to pulsate with new life. 
Heaven and earth, angels, men, and devils, recog- 
nized the majesty of his august presence. Where- 
soever he moved, the all-pervading presence of his 
life-giving power was felt. The blinded eye, the lep- 
rous spot, the deathly pang, the gloomy grave, felt 
the grasp of the destroyer to slacken his hold at the 
approach of the Son of God. He stood at the grave 
of Lazarus, and from that day to this the king of 
terrors has never been able to regain his lost scepter. 
He stood on the Mount of Transfiguration, and as 
he did so, he gave us such glimpses of the geogra- 



God Speaking to the "World. 25 

phy of heaven as to assure us that we are already in 
its near neighborhood. And when he ascended ou 
high to be received into the heavens, he let fall his 
last words, so assuring, so full of hope and confi- 
dence, that his humble followers have ever believed 
that where he is they too soon shall be. 

~No wonder that the fathers of times past longed 
to see the promised day of his coming, and stood 
ready to hail him as the " Desire of all nations." 
With glowing anticipations, they pictured to their 
minds the glorious transformation that would accom- 
pany his advent, when the desert should blossom 
as the rose, and the wilderness and solitary place 
should be made glad. 

Bright as the pictures were, the living realities 
transcendently surpass them. If the wilderness 
and solitary place have not literally been made glad 
— what is a thousand more — the broken and deso- 
late hearts of humanity have. 

The glad tidings from the skies, proclaimed to 
the shepherds of the plains, are still reverberating 
from valleys, mountains, and seas, and shall be re- 
verberating till heard to earth's remotest bounds. 

He came to heal the broken-hearted, and the 
healing still goes on. He came that the mourner 
might find comfort; and he found it — finds it yet. 
He came to give us wider and brighter views of 
heaven; and as he drew aside the veil, millions of 
glad tongues broke forth in rapturous song: 

"I see a world of spirits bright, 
Who taste their pleasures there; 
They all are robed in spotless white, 
And conquering palms they bear." 



26 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

He lias spoken, and his words still glow with the 
freshness of their divine fervor, and like sweet per- 
fume still fall on the desert air of our sorrowful 
world. 

His words, my hearer, are for you, and spoken in 
your behalf; in sorrow, let them be thy consolation: 
in suffering and in death, thy stay and support. 



THE TRUE LIGHT. 



" The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world." John i. 9. 

THE Bible, in many respects, is unlike any other 
book in the world. It is largely historical, 
but history is not its prime object, nor is it fur- 
nished us merely as such. It abounds with the 
finest specimens of poetic composition, but poetry 
is not the nature of the entertainment it proposes 
to furnish. A vein of the soundest philosophy runs 
through its entire length, but it is not designed to 
teach us philosophy, nor science, though it and true 
science, as it may become developed, serve to adorn 
and beautify each other. It is more than these; it 
comes to us clothed with the sanction and authority 
* of the Word of God; and what is implied by the 
"Word of God" may be ascertained by two ex- 
pressions gathered from its own pages: First, " Thy 
Word is truth;" secondly, "The Word it is spirit." 
These two — truth, spirit — suggest the nature of its 
true import. Not merely truth as distinguished from 
error in the world's economy, for however impor- 
tant truth in this respect may be, it may for all 
essential purpbses be developed by science, obser- 
vation, and experience; but the truth here pointed at 
is that which no science can develop and no obser- 
vation or experiment attain unto — it is truth in its 

. (27) 




28 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

essence, in its spirit, pointing us to the things that 
are unseen, and which abide forever. In short, the 
Bible is a revelation from God. But the revelation 
is not because of the book, but rather the book be- 
cause of the revelation; for there was a revelation 
long before there ever was a book. 

When Moses for the first time sat down and began 
to write, "In the beginning God created the heaven 
and the earth/' ages on ages had already preceded 
him in the world's history. But it cannot be sup- 
posed that during these ages the world had been 
groping in darkness without the light and guidance 
of revelation. On the contrary, the record itself 
shows that a large measure of revelation was im- 
parted to the first man, so ample in all its leading 
outlines and essential features as to show the way 
of salvation, and to command the faith and inspire 
the hopes and joys of Abel and the earliest of earth's 
worshipers. 

In a subsequent age "Enoch walked with God" 
three hundred years; to him it may be supposed 
additional revelations were made, and among the 
rest certainly this : "He received the testimony that 
he pleased God." So also in the process of time 
the increasing light of revelation was imparted to 
Xoah, Abraham, and others. 

Nor are we to suppose that revelation was con- 
fined to the ancestry of those who in after times 
became the chosen people of God, as glimpses given 
us from the history of those times are sufficient to 
aesure us of the contrary. Accordingly, from the 
surrounding nations and among other people, we 



The True Light. 29 

meet with such notable persons as Melchisedec, priest 
of Salem; Job, the perfect man of God; Jethro, the 
priest of Midian; and still later, among a distant 
people, Balaam, the prophet of God; and doubtless 
those named were but samples of such as were wide- 
ly scattered among the nations of earth. From these 
and like indications, there is no room to doubt that 
the light of revelation was from the beginning dif- 
fused throughout the habitable globe. And there 
is much that is consoling in the assurance that our 
world, despite its sorrowful history, has never been 
shrouded in total darkness, and our race has always 
had the advantages of that " Light which lighteth 
every man that cometh into the world; n that the 
faith and hope which have inspired the hearts of 
God's true worshipers in every age are of the same 
nature — insomuch that all alike have bowed at the 
same throne of heavenly grace, drank of the same 
flowing stream; and that Abel, in the morning of 
creation, in presenting his offerings to God, was an- 
imated by like faith and hopes and joys as shall 
thrill the heart of the last worshiper of earth who 
shall stretch forth his hands to God under the full 
blaze of millennial fflory. 

We, then, can scarcely suppose that when Moses 
recorded in book-form the revealed truths of heav- 
en these were then for the first time made known, 
nor perhaps that he wrote all that was then well 
known. Under the guidance of inspiration, he put 
in tangible and durable form the leading and essen- 
tial truths of religion, with such abbreviations here 
and enlargements there as were suitable to the Di- 



30 Sermoxs by A. P. McFerrix. 

vine Mind. Guided by the same inspiration, others 
made subsequent enlargements from time to time, 
till the record was made complete under the tuition' 
of Christ himself; thus bequeathing the whole to us 
as an inestimable treasure in the form of our pre- 
cious Bible. 

The great truth, therefore, to which our minds 
are directed is that the world has never been with- 
out a revelation to guide, and never without a Christ 
to save. The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the 
Christ of the Xew. He who was with his people, 
dwelling in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar 
of fire by night, is he whose words are still resound- 
ing: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
of the world. 55 

Christ himself declares that " before Abraham was, 
I am; " and that "Abraham rejoiced to see his day; 
and he saw it, and was glad." And Peter informs 
us that it was "the spirit of Christ which was in the 
prophets that testified beforehand his sufferings and 
the glory that should follow." So that when Christ 
says of himself, "I am the Light of the world," 
doubtless it is the world in all its ages which is to 
be understood. And thus is he set before us in the 
text as " the true Light, which lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world." 

In the former ages, indeed, the light shone less 
vividly than now, but sufficiently to produce nu- 
merous and illustrious examples of the glory of our 
common salvation. 

It may be well to observe here that the human 
race did not begin its career in the depths of bar- 



The True Light. 31 

barism, thence to work its way up by slow and 
doubtful steps to the plane of civilization. On the 
contrary, God had already instructed man in the 
ways of knowledge and virtue before he committed 
to him the dominion of the earth; and, by a proper 
use of the advantages thus conferred upon him. he 
was prepared for the rational enjoyments of life, with 
sufficient liovht to guide him in seeking the attain- 
ment of a better one hereafter. 

Instructed in the ways of true religion, and in- 
vested with health and long life, and a fruitful earth, 
our world ought long since to have beamed with 
beauty and brightness, and to have been filled with 
goodness and happiness; and the sad failures which 
have followed are because man has abused the advan- 
tages bestowed upon him by Divine Goodness. Xo, 
if darkness has covered the earth, it has not been for 
the want of light, but rather that man has loved-dark- 
ness more than light; and if cruelty and crime make 
up so largely the items of human history, it is not 
because wisdom and virtue were not shown him 
clearly from the beginning; it is because these 
advantages have been despised, and his substance 
wasted, and his heart fully set to do evil, that his 
career, begun so auspiciously, has so often ended in 
barbarism and degradation. The Apostle Paul, 
when referring to the debased condition of the na- 
tions of the earth, pronounced them to be " without 
excuse, 7 ' for the reason "that when they knew God, 
they glorified him not as God."-' 

But if blame rests upon the ages past, is our own 
asce clear of the same follies? On the contrarv, if 



32 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

condemnation rest there, how much more so here! 
Blessed with unobscured light reflected by the gos- 
pel, with all the advantages arising from the teach- 
ings of history, what is our world still doing but 
repeating the follies of the past? And saying this 
much, I do not forget that ours is preeminently a 
boastful age; for never perhaps in the history of 
the world has there been one exceeding it in s'elf- 
praises and self-congratulations. Progress and new 
ideas are the fascinations which are impelling it on- 
ward. Conceding all due merit for its real advance- 
ments and its substantial improvements, is there not 
danger of so forsaking the old landmarks, of so despis- 
ing the admonitions of past experiences, of so ignor- 
ing the true claims of reverence and veneration, as 
in the end to bring all its boasted pretensions to 
shame? 

The question of real concern is, Is the world truly 
growing in wisdom and virtue and goodness? or is it 
repeating the old experiment of trying to get along 
without God? 

What of its record of crime? of its freaks of in- 
sane and unnatural violence? of its treachery to 
plighted vows? of its disregard of violated faith? 
Is it in these respects an improvement on the past? 
Let not man hope to promote his own advancement 
by forgetting God; and if our age would not have 
to retrace its steps in shame and in sorrow, let its 
progress be such as does not lead to forgetfulness 
of God. 

God deals as gently and as leniently with the w T orld 
as its true welfare will allow; and the ever-recurring 



The True Light. 33 

tides of calamities and sorrows which are sweeping 
over it are for the repression of uprisings that w r ould 
terminate in far greater woes. 

As the light of the sun in the heavens is essential 
to the physical well-being of the world, so is the true 
Light that lighteth every man to that of the spirit- 
ual; and as the sun of the heavens is for the whole 
race, including those who have gone before us as well 
as those who may come after us, so is "the true 
Light" for the common benefit of every soul of 
man. 

Mark the condemnation that rests upon the world ! 
It is this: "Light is come, but it loves darkness rather 
than light." Who cannot find his way to heaven if 
he sincerely desires to do so? or who in this age with 
its multiplied privileges and advantages shall go up 
from Christian lands to the bar of final account and 
say, " I failed because I knew not my duty? " 

As Christ is the true Light, it follows that all oth- 
ers are false, and lead to ways that terminate only in 
delusion and darkness. 

The world abounds with multiform religions, but 
none save that based on Christ ever leads to a holy 
life, or serves in any way to develop the more hope- 
ful and redeeming qualities in man. The glory of 
Christ's religion is that it never disappoints, but 
causes the path of the just to shine brighter and 
brighter to the perfect day. 

The true follower of Christ is making no mere ex- 
periment; he need not say, "I wonder if I shall ever 
get to heaven; " faithful to his guide, he cannot be 
led elsewhere. ]^or is he ever left in total darkness. 
3 



34 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

The storm-cloud may arise, but amid its mightiest 
commotions the echoes of His voice are still heard, 
saying, "Be not afraid; it is I." 

Tribulation may come, but glory has been found 
even there. The vale of death may cast its drear 
shadows and the gloomy grave suggest its terrors, but 
innumerable witnesses have testified that here — even 
here — does "the true Light w r hich lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world " shine forth with its most 
glorious and exhilarating splendor. 

While the sun in the heavens sheds his light for 
the benefit of unnumbered millions, yet is that light 
none the less precious to you and me than though it 
shone for our exclusive benefit. So also while mill- 
ions rejoice in that " true Light, w T hich lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world," yet it is none the 
less precious to you and me than though it had come 
to us for our exclusive benefit; and it is thus that 
our holy religion becomes a personal matter between 
Christ and the believing soul. 

The sun that lighteth up our world to-day has been 
shining on for the ages already past, as it will shine for 
the ages still to come; but it will soon cease to shine 
as to us. It will shine on, but our eyes will not be- 
hold it; we will have gone to the land of silence and 
of shade, and no more will we gaze on the beauties 
of the earth and the heavens, nor will our ears drink 
in the sounds of the sweet melodies floating above 
our heads. So also with the "true Light " which 
has guided those who have gone before us, as it will 
those who are to come after us. It will shine on, 
but not for us. The gospel will still be preached, 



The True Light. 35 

but not by your preachers; hearers will be in attend- 
ance, but not the congregations which now meet; 
the present will have become the past, and the sur- 
roundings and excitements of our time, which so 
much interest us, will have been numbered with 
the things that have gone before and forever disap- 
peared. 



THE ONE MEDIATOR, 



' 7 ::■ there is one G 3 and one mediator between Gk 1 and men, the 

man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, tc le testi- 
fied in due tirrfe.'" 1 Tin; ii :. 6. 

I DO not suppose the declaration that "there is 
one God' 3 was intend-! as a proposition to be 
proved, or even discussed. Revelation nowhere 

entertain the tfion of God's existence. Its tirst 
sentence is a familiar recognition of the Creator as 

an unquestioned fact, And it may be safely as- 
sumed that no considerable people have ever been 
discovered who did not entertain some conception 
of a Supreme Being. Atheists may have worked 
themselves up to the conclusion that there is no 
God. and pantheists may have worked themselves 
up to the conclusion that there is nothing else bat 
God; but in either sase the inclusion evinces an 
abnormal condition of the mind, the result of the 
perversion of its rational powers. 

On th dstence is s : ibly im- 

pressed on h ation, and on the universal mind 

of humanity, that nothing sh t :: a mental ailment 
bordering on insanity can efface it. 

Thei 5 is, however, nearly 
which revelation doe- aist upon — 

namely, that there is but Gc — aard 

(36) 



The 0::z Mkdiatc 37 

the pernicious krroi :: dsm, which 

so terribly scourged the human r; 

While creation sc plainly leclares the presence :: 
a Creator, it affords n ; ;1 yw : ' the existen :e >f a Me- 
diator. It is a truth for which we are wholly indehte 1 
I revelation, and is the prime, central truth of all 
1 religion, :; which all its other truths are 
tributary. And it is the ^reat truth <:: : 

r between God and men to which the aj : s- 

tle h recta our earn--: attention, pointing to 

the unquestioned : : of the one God's existence as 

assisting us to a •: msion of the vital 

tion which we sustain to the one Medial i 

A mediator, as the a] stle elsewhere tells us. is 
d t --the mediator of one."'' for by the very sense of 
the term there must t e two parties between wh : m 
he mediates; and bc i: is heir — God of the one 
part" men :: the >ther party. The office of 

a%iediator implies that the parties in whose bek 
a mediator is sailed for are at variance; and hence 
the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between 
them. The idea is me : : easy apprehensi >n 9 assc me- 
thing after the same manner is often seen in human 
irs; as in the jase >f personal variances, or rapt- 
ures 1 stween nationalitirs. where, by the interven- 
tion )f a third party, peace and reconciliation ;:; 
secured. 

Fhere are three requisites in order to constitute 
a me liator: 1 He must have the proper authoi 
tc :::: i he must be the friend :: both parties; 
: his wisdom and goodness must be such as to 
secure the confidence of both j ; rtiea 



38 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

And it is thus that the man Christ Jesus is pre- 
sented before us as t]ae Mediator between God and 
men. 

As the Son of God, he will maintain the integrity, 
the authority, and the holiness of his Father's gov- 
ernment. As the Son of man, having assumed 
man's nature, he identifies himself with the interests 
and fortunes of humanity. Thus it is that God the 
Father, on his part, bears testimony that with him, 
as such, he is well pleased; while humanity, on its 
part, beholding his sacrifices and sufferings in its 
behalf, is assured that the last barrier to unlimited 
confidence is forever removed. 

Let us not here think of the man Christ Jesus sim- 
ply as a Mediator, but as the one Mediator, and the 
only possible one in the universe, as there is no other 
being in the universe, nor can be, in whom the three 
requisites before named could be met, in order to 
the removal of the peculiar obstacles to make possi- 
ble the salvation of a sinful world. And for like 
reasons, he is the only being in the universe that 
could make atonement for the sins of the world; 
and it is the work of the latter that invests him 
with the office of the former. It is the man Christ 
Jesus, "who gave himself a ransom for all," w 7 ho 
reigns as " Mediator between God and men." 

When we adoringly ponder the relation which 
he sustains to us and to God, blending in himself 
the two perfect natures of the Godhead and the 
manhood, all the difficulties vanish, which seem to 
perplex some minds, when viewed in the light of an 
atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. lie gave 



The One Mediator. 39 

himself a ransom for all, which he had a right to clo, 
but a right which no other being could assume. 
His life was his own, and as such he had the power 
of its disposal. If he chose to suffer in the stead of 
others, there was none to question his right to do 
so. ~So creature, whether man or angel, even if de- 
siring to do so, could offer himself as a ransom; he 
is not his own, but the property of the Author of 
his being, and has his own place to fill in the sphere 
assigned him. If the man Christ Jesus choose to 
suffer — the innocent for the guilty — his is the right 
to do so, but a right peculiarly his own, and per- 
taining to none others. 

Such is the scheme of redemption, into which the 
angels desire to look, and of which grateful human- 
ity may adoringly exclaim: "0 the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of Gocl! 
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
past finding out!" How inspiring the hopeful 
prospects that rise up before us, when we contem- 
plate the abounding grace thus manifested toward 
us, in the assurance that the Mediator who reigns 
over us, invested with " all power in heaven and 
earth," is the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a 
ransom for us, and that he wields the scepter of 
power in our behalf! Surely this is "the new and 
living way" that will lead us out of present envi- 
ronments on and up to the Father's house of many 
mansions. And let no one deceive himself with 
the vain surmises of finding some other way out 
of this present evil world. There is no other pos- 
sible explanation of the present order of things 



40 Sermons by A. P. McFermx. 

than that so amply afforded in the mediatorial 
reign of Christ. 

Under the most favorable view, as beheld from a 
human stand-point, the present order of things is so 
far out of harmony as to show many signs of the 
just displeasure of God. Sin, suffering, and death 
are dreadful, felt realities, and the millions of earth 
shrink back with terrible apprehensions at the 
thought of being ushered into the realized presence 
of the Judge of all the earth. 

What, then? Is God for us or against us? May he 
be reconciled to us? and if so, how? Sin is a dread- 
ful thing, as we well know; and we also well know 
that we are sinners, and as such we dread to enter 
into his presence. How, then, shall we escape the 
dreadful ordeal, for the issue will soon be upon us? 
Will God forgive sin? What reason have we, if 
any, to believe that he will? Now, of all possible 
questions these are the ones of greatest concern; and 
where shall we find their solution if it be not in the 
revealed book of God, which points us to the one 
Mediator? Will he who rejects the Bible point out 
any other way affording one ray of light? Will it 
be replied that God is just and merciful? I admit 
it with all my heart; but will he forgive a sinner? 
Admitting that he is good to the good, just to the 
just, merciful to the merciful, still the question of all 
questions which concern a world of sinners remains, 
Will he forgive a sinner? Am I answered that he 
will? Then, where, I ask, in the natural world 
around us, is there a hint or a suggestion that God 
ever did or ever will forgive a sinner? 



The One Mediator. 41 

Nature is a very wise teacher in some things, but 
there is not the remotest intimation for the hope of 
forgiveness of sin. Indeed, all the inferences from 
this source would seem to declare the reverse. Nat- 
ure has its laws — God-given laws, of course — and 
these, with one voice, declare this universal man- 
date: "Come up to our requirements, and it shall 
be well; fall below them, if but one iota, and you 
shall be punished." 

Such is the demand of nature's laws, which know 
no pardon for transgression, and which will exact 
the penalty for every violation to the last jot and 
tittle. Nor will any plea of good motive, or acci- 
dent, or innocent mistake avail; nor will the piteous 
wailings for mercy from the suffering victim be 
heeded. Ah, we are quick to learn the penalties of 
these laws, and cautious to avoid them, for he who 
swallows poison by mistake well knows that the 
plea of mistake will not mitigate the penalty. 

No, let him who can, outside of God's Bible, point 
to any hint in the universe that God will forgive a 
sinner. The forgiveness of sins, through the atone- 
ment and mediation of Christ, is a new arrange- 
ment coming in subsequent to creation, and makes 
a special revelation of God an absolute necessity; 
and it is wonderful that acute understandings have 
so often failed to recognize this fact. 

In view of the benign provisions manifested in 
the sublime "out-givings" of the mediatorial reign 
of Christ, it may be w T ell to note some of the con- 
clusions legitimately resulting therefrom. And the 
one that seems to have precedence is this, name- 



42 Sermons by A. P. McFerpjn. 

ly: That God deals with our sinful world only by 
and through the Mediator. The forfeiture occa- 
sioned by sin left man utterly bereft; and hence- 
forth all that he may hope to become is of grace, 
bestowed through the Mediator. The perpetuation 
of the fallen human race, the sufferance of the pres- 
ent order of things in the intermixture of good and 
evil, the gradual unfoldings of providence in human 
affairs, seem evidently referable to this cause. They 
are but dreamers who attempt to solve the problem 
of human destiny and leave this great truth of rev- 
elation out of the account. The world, with all 
pertaining to it, is moving onward to new condi- 
tions and relations; but its progress is persistently 
withstood by evil influences, and its every step in 
advance stubbornly contested. 

The Apostle Paul refers to this warfare as insti- 
gated by the wiles of the devil, a wrestling against 
principalities, and powers, and the spiritual hosts 
of wickedness. And the prize for which the enemy 
is contending is the destruction of the human soul. 
And the Christian, who has learned from long expe- 
rience what 'it is to "work out his own salvation 
with fear and trembling," will be slow to interpret 
these words of the apostle, and the numerous other 
Scripture warnings referring to the same danger, 
as figures of speech; but rather as vital realities, 
as corroborated by his own sore experience. In so 
far as our world is concerned, this warfare seems to 
have begun in paradise, and its first conflict result- 
ed in the capture and downfall of the first pair of 
earth; and the conflict has continued ever since. 



The One Mediator. 43 

Whether "the spiritual hosts of wickedness," of 
which the apostle speaks as bow seeking our de- 
struction, are the same as those angels, of which 
Jude speaks, "which kept not their first estate, but 
ieft their own habitations;" and whether they left 
their own habitation for the purpose of descending 
to paradise, to carry out a conspiracy against our race 
for their capture and the seizure of their beautiful 
world, and by that act brought down upon them- 
selves the curse of God and their own eternal ruin, 
can only be a matter of conjecture. Jude tells us 
that the wicked spirits of which he speaks are "re- 
served in everlasting chains under darkness unto 
the judgment of the great day." Whether their 
judgment-day is the same as that appointed for the 
quick and dead of our race, and whether the misery 
of their doom is to be augmented according to the 
evil they have wrought with our race, can only be 
conjecture. But of the final triumph we have ab- 
solute certainty. Christ shall reign till the last en- 
emy is destroyed, which is death; and not a blot 
shall remain in the universe. The evil of this pres- 
ent world is incidental and temporary, and shall 
scarcely be a fading dot in the never-ending annals 
of eternity. 

As a matter of physical power, Omnipotence 
could in a moment obliterate every unseemly object 
from the face of the universe. But the prolonged 
warfare which we are considering is a moral con- 
flict, and the desirable outcome of it can be attained 
to only by moral power. And the moral power 
thus developed in the rational intelligences, created 



44 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

in God's image, will constitute the prominent feat- 
ure in their illustrious exaltation. 

All things, however trying they may be, are made 
to work together for the good of those who are pa- 
tiently submissive to the Divine will; therefore, the 
consecrated Christian has substantial reasons to 
" rejoice evermore and in every thing to give 
thanks." Could a less trying ordeal suffice to de- 
velop, from the crude material of depraved human- 
ity, the precious "jewels " which God is thus " mak- 
ing up " for himself? 

The heavenly purpose is nothing less than the 
transformation of a world of perverse sinners into 
celestial saints polished after the similitude of Christ; 
and when the accomplishment of the Divine purpose 
is finally made manifest, the endurance of present 
tribulations will dwindle into insignificance as com- 
pared with the eternal, glorious results. Yea, the 
faithful will soon have left all present evils behind 
them; and God shall "create new heavens and a 
new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, 
nor come into mind." 

And now another conclusion may be mentioned 
as the result of the mediatorial reign of Christ; this: 
That all the saved, of every age and clime, embracing 
infants, imbeciles, and heathens, will have attained unto 
salvation through him. As the sacrifice for sin, he is 
" the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; " 
and at the moment sin entered, from that instant 
the sacrifice already provided availed to meet the 
necessities of the new condition. Therefore, the 
faith of those of ancient days was of the same type 



Tel _ Mediat 45 

»i :hat of the las: Jays; the former resting in a 
Christ yet ! . : the latter in the same Christ al- 
Donbtlesa many adult heathens are 
saved; and though they may never in life have 
heard of him in whom they fain would have be- 
lieve they too. when brought to see face to 
fa -r. will join in the common adoration of him who 
• gave himself a ransom for all/* 

The mention of one more consequence of the me- 
diatorial reign must suffice: Christ hi ~ be the 
- ' ' to fix the >f every human r . 

Whatever may be our estimate of sin, in the sight 
ven it is of awful turpitude: and but for the 
fact that our eyes are so blinded by its baleful ef- 
fects, - would be overwhelmed with a sense of its 
hideousness. It is the world's destroyer, as its vio- 
lence, suffering, and cruelty plainly show. It is an 
insufferable burden under which humanity groaus, 
impeding the progress of all temporal and spiritual 
good; while the mischiefs it is continually working, 
and the deathly throes it is ever inflicting, have so 
"_ isoned every fountain and embittered every stream 
as to make perfect peace and happiness impossible 
under its dominion. 

God hates sin, and it is perhaps the only thing in 
the universe which he does hate: hates it because it 
is hateful in itself, and is the destroyer of the peace 
and good of his children. Therefore, he will de- 
sb :~~ sin 3 and to this end are all the workings of 
hie providence directed: and nothing shall thwart 
the unalterable purpose of its destruction. To this 
end the scheme of the Mediatorship has been de- 



46 Sermons by A. P. McFekrin. 

vised, that sin may so be destroyed as yet to save 
the sinner; a salvation not merely for the escaping 
of punishment, but also for a deliverance from sin; 
otherwise, the destruction must involve both sin 
and the sinner. 

Nevertheless, the worst of sinners may abound 
with lively hope if they will but seriously consider 
the infinite w T isdom and benevolence wrought out 
in their behalf by the superabounding grace, which 
so transcendently exceeds their every want and so 
effectually removes their every disability. More- 
over, the fact must be inexpressibly dear to the 
most despairing sinner, that it is the Lord Jesus 
Christ, his best Friend in heaven or earth, who is to 
be his final Judge in that great day when every one 
shall be called upon to give an account for the deeds 
of the past. Seated on the " great white throne." 
with the dead, small and great, standing before 
him, he will judge the world in righteousness, and 
all the mysteries of providence shall be made plain. 
He will recognize everv soul before him as his abso- 
lute property, as belonging to his purchased posses- 
sion. Having himself passed through the sorrows 
and trials of the earthly life, all the mitigating cir- 
cumstances peculiar to each soul will not fail to have 
their due appreciation ; and none shall be cast away 
forever from his presence whose salvation is morally 
possible. And, likely, the anguishing consideration 
which shall most of all haunt the memory of him 
who shall find himself shut out from the kingdom 
of heaven will be the moral necessity of the verdict, 
coming from Him whose loving-kindness had been 



The One Mediator. 47 

so manifested as to have given himself a ransom for 
his lost soul. 

In the issues of the mediatorial reign of Christ 
the destiny of the human race is bound up, and its 
termination will close up the account of all human 
affairs; and when there shall be nothing left of the 
present order of things but its history, the sum total 
of the great result shall be merged into the things 
which are eternal; the peculiarities of the mediato- 
rial reign will have terminated, "that God may be 
all in all." 



THE TWO ADAMS, 



" The first man Adam was made a living soul : the last Adam was 
made a quickening spirit.'' 1 Cor. xv. 45. 

THERE is an interest that gathers about the 
name of the first man of earth which attaches 
to none other. It is something more than that 
which arises from the fact that it was borne by the 
common father of our race, in whom all genealogies 
find their final unity. It is understood that, in 
some way, our fortunes and our destiny have been 
affected by causes originating with him. 

His record, as furnished us in Genesis, is of sin- 
gular interest. His portraiture, as thus presented 
us, brings him before our minds as a specimen of 
perfect manhood, physically, mentally, morally. He 
was faultless, and, as an archetype of the man. was 
pronounced by the Father of spirits to be very good. 
His endowments and capabilities were such as to 
render him worthy to be invested with the do- 
minion of earth. His surroundings were felici- 
tous. "Wisdom, honor, purity were his; these. 
with the addition of immortality, were assured 
on the condition of obedience. In obedience he 
failed, and fell; and, in the fall, he brought sin. evil, 
and death upon himself and all the race. Such, 
in brief, is the picture set before us by revealed 
religion. 
(48) 



The Two Adams. 49 

This is the first Adam; and turning from him, 
we have, by way of contrast, a view aflbrded us of 
the second or last Adam. In so far as the first 
Adam is concerned, the loss involved was irrepara- 
ble, the ruin complete; and it is in the last Adam 
only that the interests and fortunes of the race now 
center. 

The interest, therefore, which we have in the one 
or the other, as affecting our destiny, becomes a 
matter of vital personal concern; and is clearly a 
matter of legitimate inquiry to ascertain, as unmis- 
takably as we can, the real personal relations which 
Ave sustain to these — the two central figures in the 
world's creation and redemption. 

In approaching the subject, we are aware of the 
fact that we are near the confines of almost bound- 
less speculation; if, however, we may succeed in 
getting a clear and sober view of the subject, as 
warranted by revelation, the labor will not have 
been in vain, as a removal of any obscurity per- 
taining thereto tends in that degree to the enlarge- 
ment of our faith and hope. 

It may be proper to note that the relation we 
hold to either the first or last Adam, whatever it 
may be, is peculiar, and wholly different from that 
which we sustain to any other being. Thus, we stand 
related to the first man in some sense wholly differ- 
ent from that sustained toward any other of the 
race; and his position must have been of such an 
official or public character as to affect, for good or 
evil, his entire posterity. 

The whole narrative we have concerning him 
4 



50 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

plainly indicates this; and, indeed, it is this feature 
of his character that gives it all its pedominance 
and importace. 

Some of the results of his disobedience are stated 
thus: " Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sor- 
row shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; 
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field ; in the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou 
return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou 
taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
return." 

Here, then, is at once the tremendous sweep 
which reaches down through all his posterity, and 
continues in all its force to this day ; labor, suffer- 
ing, sorrow, have never slackened their grasp ; "in 
Adam all die," is one of the truths which none pre- 
sumes to question; "by one man sin entered into 
the world, and so death passed upon all men," is 
one of the truths that makes its own comments. 

"What then? Are the innocent to suffer for the 
acts of him who alone was personally guilty? Is 
the race, after the lapse of thousands of years, to 
suffer for that in which it could have no choice, no 
will whatever? These would indeed be pertinent 
questions if the world had never had but one Adam ; 
but it has tw^o, and the apostle tells us that the first 
was a figure of the second; and therefore these and 
kindred questions cannot be appropriately consid- 
ered till we turn from contemplating what the first 
Adam has wrought to behold what the last Adam 
lias accomplished. Has one brought death? the 



The Two Adams. 51 

other has brought more than life. Have we lost in 
the one? we have, with an unlimited multiplicand, 
won in the other. Sorrow and suffering are more 
than countervailed by "joy inexpressible and full 
of glory." 

The benefits of the second Adam are not simply to 
restore and repair the losses and consequences of 
the first. It is not the resemblance between them, 
but rather the contrast, that invites our attention. 
And doubtless much of the obscurity in regard to 
our present condition, and the many paradoxes 
which it seems to involve, are from failing to keep 
in view our relation to the second Adam, while 
considering that which we sustain to the first. 
Only by connecting these can we solve the serious 
problems meeting us at every turn. 

What of life and its perplexing diversities? 
Surely they are of a peculiar and complex nature. 
Life is of inestimable value, but it is ofttimes diffi- 
cult to say wherein its great value consists. We 
have generous soils, luscious fruits, and sparkling 
fountains, and so much in nature that is truly beau- 
tiful and grand as greatly to enhance its enjoyments. 
But these are offset by the rugged features of nature, 
which nothing but weary toil can overcome. The 
ground yields its products only after a rigid and 
prolonged conflict; the sparkling fountains are 
largely transformed into turbid and bitter waters; 
the pleasures of health alternate with sickness and 
suffering; the triumphs of mind, in those grand 
achievements w^hich unmistakably show its won- 
derful powers, are w^on only by painful and pro- 



52 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

tracted conflict; in a word, our natural surround- 
ings are not so good but we see they might be vastly 
better, and not so bad but they might be immeas- 
urably worse. But the saddest of all is the moral 
conflict in the midst of which we find ourselves 
placed. We see enough of goodness to show us how 
lovely it is; enough of viciousness to overwhelm us 
with dread ; insomuch, if all were goodness, then 
indeed would the other ills to which we are heir be 
quite supportable; while, if all were viciousness, 
then no surroundings, however perfect, could make 
our situation endurable. 

Such are a few of the plain and palpable facts 
concerning the present life, about which there can 
be no mistake. Our surroundings, viewed in this 
light and then in that, are so peculiar that they 
partake of the mysterious. We are conscious of 
the absence of something to render our condition 
perfect, the presence of something that ever im- 
pedes. How shall this peculiar and perplexing 
condition of things be accounted for? No wisdom 
nor device, aside from revelation, has ever afforded us 
even a tolerable solution ; and but for the aid which 
it affords, the actual and unmistakable condition of 
our world is absolutely inexplicable. 

Revelation alone solves the mystery, and the so- 
lution it gives is responded to by innumerable facts, 
seen and felt, which point in no other direction — 
man is fallen, but fallen man is redeemed; and in 
the one aspect he stands related to the first Adam, 
in the other to the last Adam. 

In view of the premises, we may proceed to note 



The Twc A:^ms. 53 

hich are often ffugges 

and which, in the min . the si 

offormi lifficulties. Snch as these: If natural 

death be refc : rin as its cause, how is it that 

fcion die? Again: S me animals sh w 

in their structure that they are creatures : prey, 
and that it is ~ : : : And if some 

of what are supj 3sed to fc a the deductions of science 
are correct, there is evidei . -; : natural death r. r r c 

ceding the creation of man. and. as a conse- 
quence, death, in some of its forms, was in the world 
man I : . sinned. 
Fur::. . the inquiry arises. Where would 

human family have found sufficient dwelling 
n earth if exempt from death'.' and fa 
could the earth have :A:AA. subsistence for the 

imulated masses : i ly ;. few ages? The 

inquiries do not deserve the : asideration 

. .: they, at a casual view, may seem : :■ claim. 
Ala:/- exemption from leath was conditioned on 
his r is it by any means clear that the 

Bxem was to extend beyond him to the animal 

tion. But, ind .: A all such considera- 

te : ds 3 it is tc I e t : rn s in min : . that tb 3 entire cre- 
ation is the result of Infinite Wisdom, and conse- 
quently there we : dc mistakes, nc accidents, no 
unfi in a human sense, could 

be; Infinite Wisdom foresaw the end from the be- 
ginning. All things, therefore, were arrai ged and 
planned in reference to the actual condition of 
things as they are. and not in reference tc ; condi- 
tion : things wholly lifierent. The first Adam 



54 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

" was a figure" of the last Adam, and it was in ref- 
erence to Arm that creation was planned; and "with- 
out (reference to) him was nothing made; " all was 
" created for him/' and we were " chosen in him be- 
fore the foundation of the world; " so that the plan 
of creation comprehended the scheme of redemp- 
tion; and the introduction of moral evil only needed 
a corresponding natural evil to adapt our world to 
the condition of a fallen but redeemed race. 

It is needless to surmise what would have been 
the condition of human affairs with the world peo- 
pled by an obedient and unfallen race, since Infinite 
Wisdom would have arranged all things so as to 
have been adapted to that very different condition. 
The brute creation, for aught we may know to the 
contrary, might not have been adapted to, and con- 
sequently have had no place in, a state existing 
under widely different circumstances. He who 
planned the universe could not be wanting in 
means to carry out the ends of any manner of cre- 
ation suitable to his will; and all questions having 
reference to the means of subsistence for the inhab- 
iters of a world exempt from death, or room for 
their dwelling-place, have no pertinent relation to 
the present order of things. lSTor need we embar- 
rass these views with attempts to reconcile them 
with foreknowledge; it is enough for us to know that 
things are as we find them, and that they could not 
be, unless by the sufferance of God. Nevertheless, 
they are in no way the result of foreknowledge; for 
knowledge, whether fore or after, does not, cannot, 
in its nature, control events, whether good or bad; 



The Two Adams. 55 

it recognizes, but does not in any way influence, 
events; such a power is not a predicate of knowl- 
edge at all. Omniscience recognizes all events, past, 
present, or future; but it is Omnipotence — not Om- 
niscience — that controls them. 

There are some suggestions growing out of the 
subject of a more vital character, which are enti- 
tled to serious consideration ; and one of prominence 
is this: What were the moral consequences of Ad- 
am's fall, as affecting his posterity? To him the 
personal consequences of his sin were guilt and pol- 
lution. Personal guilt, as a consequence of his sin, 
did not, in the nature of the case, descend to his 
posterity, but the pollution, and its attendant evils, 
did — not, indeed, as a punishment, but as the legiti- 
mate effect of a cause. 

His original holiness, whatever its character, was 
implanted in him as the result of his creation; and, 
possessing it by virtue of his creation, it was the 
holiness of the natural man; only a feeble type of 
the holiness now realized through the merits of 
Christ, which makes its possessor like Christ — pure 
"as he is pure," "perfect even as the Father which 
is in heaven is perfect." That nature was trans- 
missible to his posterity; but, being lost by his fall, 
he could not transmit that feature of his nature 
which he no longer possessed. 

Aside from his personal guilt, in the sense of con- 
scious, merited condemnation, his posterity became 
just such in nature as himself. 

It is this view of the case that gives rise to what 
is called the doctrine of total depravity; and, how- 



56 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

ever distasteful it may seem, there is no other con- 
clusion that is reconcilable with the doctrine of re- 
demption. 

Total depravity, in the sense under consideration, 
implies the loss or absence of all moral goodness 
which inhered to the first man by virtue of his cre- 
ation. If the loss of this was only partial, then his 
fall was only partial, since the fall of that being 
cannot be complete who still retains a degree of 
moral goodness. Besides, if the first man was not 
wholly fallen, then he was not wholly lost, and con- 
sequently not wholly redeemed— indeed, did not need 
a Kedeemer; for moral goodness, whatever its de- 
gree, implies the possession of moral power to the 
same extent; but it is the powerless — the lost— who 
become legitimately the subjects of redemption. It 
must not be inferred, however — and right here is 
the error commonly fallen into — that the doctrine 
of total depravity, being true, leaves man in his 
present condition actually without the pale of moral 
goodness. On the contrary, there is moral goodness 
in our race. Man everywhere shows the power of 
a quickened conscience, of sensibilities of soul that 
respond to the calls of religion. All this is undoubt- 
edly true; but the material point involved is that he 
has these not by virtue of his relation to the first 
Adam as a natural inheritance, but wholly by virtue 
of his relation to the last Adam, who is a quickening 
spirit. The gist of the whole matter, and that which 
gives it all its importance, is right here — which 
makes Christ u all in all." And, doubtless, much 
of the disputation on this subject arises from the 



The Two Adams. 57 

fact that the main material point involved is not 
clearly kept in view. 

The question of total depravity has long excited 
much interest and prolonged discussion. The ques- 
tion in itself, considered only as a matter of theory, 
may not seem to deserve the importance assigned 
it, since there can be no question of the faith and 
piety of the many Christians who entertain diverse 
views in relation thereto. But the question, in its 
more direct bearings as essentiallv related to the 
work of redemption, becomes of supreme impor- 
tance. Christ himself, in the peculiar relation which 
he bears to the entire race of man, is the sum total 
of all that Christianity is or can be. And any view 
that regards human depravity as less than total 
appears to me to be an attempt to construct a Chris- 
tianity of far less of Christ in it than the gospel sets 
forth, or that can meet the felt necessities of a hap- 
less world of sinners. Any magnifying of the in- 
herited goodness of the natural man, or any sup- 
posed resources of his own, on which to base a 
legitimate claim to a share of the eternal life set 
forth in the gospel— the only eternal life of which 
we have any information, wholly of Christ and at- 
tainable only through him — is to depreciate the 
work of redemption, and lessen our conception of 
the real condition of helpless sinners. Doubtless 
the absurd and abhorrent conclusions deduced from 
some of the old creeds have largely influenced its 
discussion. These absurdities have been mingled 
with an admixture of truth. The truth will abide, 
but the absurdities have had their dav, and can no 



58 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

longer survive the enlightened verdict of Christen- 
dom. But in rooting out the tares, let us be careful 
of the wheat. That Christianity which is not so 
full of Christ that there is room for nothing else, 
of which he is not the "all in all," has suffered an 
adulteration to that extent. 

That man universally bears the marks of a fallen 
and depraved nature is a matter so apparent that it 
is strange that it should ever be soberly questioned. 
All laws, human and divine, applicable to his pres- 
ent condition, together with the regulations neces- 
sary to all social life, point to this well-recognized 
fact. At the same time, it is equally apparent that 
there is a better disposition connected with him, 
which struggles against his evil one: the one "lust- 
eth against" the other, as though he were the sub- 
ject of* two natures; and that " these are contrary 
the one to the other." Hence nothing is more 
common than self-upbraidings — man sitting in 
judgment on himself to self-condemnation — show- 
ing that judgment, conscience, and all the better 
impulses, are withstood by an evil propensity which, 
if not held in abeyance, leads to ruin. 

How shall these opposite features of his character 
be reconciled? 

The explanation is found in his fall and his re- 
demption as set forth in revelation, while all other 
attempted explanations show themselves to be ut- 
terly futile. 

Man, therefore, as related to the first Adam, is 
spiritually dead; but, as related to the last Adam — 
who is a quickening spirit — he is alive; so that, "as 



The Two Adams. 59 

in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." It is in this sense that he is "the Saviour 
of ail men;" for "in him is life" — "he is our life" 
— the life of every one born into the world. And 
if it be the fate of the infant of days to be in a 
world where sin abounds, it is, nevertheless, a world 
in which "grace does much more abound;" and, if 
subject to the disabilities of the one condition, much 
more is it supported by the efficacy of the other. 
Such are the assumed facts, though it may be diffi- 
cult to find terms to define the infant's relation to 
Christ with such exactness as to satisfy the curiosity 
of some and the anxiety of others. It is satisfactory, 
however, to know that its measure of grace is pre- 
cisely adapted to its condition, and that that condi- 
tion is secured beyond question, and hopeful beyond 
description. It is Christ's, and is of the kingdom 
of heaven; but baptism does not make it so: bap- 
tism may recognize the fact, but the fact depends 
not on the baptism. As pertaining to nature, it has 
no moral goodness; as pertaining to grace, its every 
pulsation of life throbs responsively to the quicken- 
ings of the Spirit, It knows no sin, it knows not 
itself. Beared in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord, the period of self-knowledge will bring with 
it the conscious need of the merits of the blood of 
Christ which cleanseth from all sin, and being sub- 
missive to the leadings of the Spirit will bring the 
blessed assurance of adoption into the "household 
of God;" "for as many as are led by the Spirit of 
God, they are the sons of God." 

The official relation, whatever its character, borne 



60 



SER3I05S BY A. P. McFeRBIN. 



by the first Adam to his posterity ceased with his 
fall, himself taking his part and lot as a common 
member of the human family in the ransom made 
for all; and his farther acts, whether good or bad, 
signified neither more nor less than those of any 
other individual. Henceforth it is the last Adam 
that is. in any sense, a federal Head of humanity: 
and. it is in reference to him— what he has done. 
and will do. in behalf of the race — that its perpet- 
uation is allowable, and the present order of things 
continued. 

If our inheritance from the first Adam is sad and 
dreadful, it finds its larger compensation in the 
transfer of our future relation to the last Adam, so 
transcendently more glorious than the former. 

If by the first we lost the "image" of God. it is 
by the last that we are made "partakers of the di- 
vine nature;"' destined to be "like him " — a glori- 
ous altitude of being which the paradise of the first 
Adam could never suggest. 

So if man's fall was sad, his rise is glorious ; if his 
loss therein was great, his gain herein is infinite; 
and if tribulations ensued, an "eternal weight of 
glory' 7 shall succeed them. 

Peace to the memory of him by whom we lost an 
earthly paradise! but eternal praises be unto Him 
through whom we have become heir to "all things." 
'•whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- 
palities, or powers! " 

If the first Adam was a failure, the last is an all- 
glorious conqueror, and of his dominion there shall 
be no end. 



The Two Adams. 61 

Such is the last Adam — a quickening Spirit. 
Through him humanity throbs with the impulses 
of a new and higher life; and though it doth not 
jet appear what we shall be, the eye already catches 
the dawn of an eternal day, and the glimpses of the 
new paradise which he has planted, and which is 
already in full blossom with immortal joys. No 
flaming sword guards its entrance, for it is the in- 
heritance of the just made perfect through him. 

Since the shadows of the present are but the 
background of so luminous a future, we will scarce- 
ly regret them. We will not — must not — rejoice at 
the misfortune of him who brought death, and all 
our woe; but we will say, " Thanks be to God, 
who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ!" 



THE BELIEF THAT SAVES. 



"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Romans x. 10. 

ARE we to understand the Apostle Paul to say 
that so great a matter as the soul's eternal 
salvation is brought about by such means as the 
simple belief of the heart? His language certainly 
seems to imply just that — nothing more, nothing 
less. And does not this declaration of the apostle 
harmonize with that of Jesus, when he tells us that 
whosoever would receive the kingdom of God must 
receive it as a little child? with the teachableness, 
the earnest-mindedness, the simple-heartedness of a 
little child? 

The gospel is not peculiarly addressed to philoso- 
phers, for the very good reason that the world is 
not filled with philosophers; but with the hoping, 
fearing, erring, and, to a large extent, the unreflect- 
ing masses of humanity; and a religion suited to 
their woes and wants must, in the nature of the 
case, be adapted to their ever-varying conditions 
and fortunes. If means are to be used, they must 
be as much within the easy reach of the weak as 
the strong, the poor as the rich, the unlearned as 
the learned, the young as the old. If such a re- 
ligion make any demand at all, it must be of such 
a character' as can be as readily complied with in 
every condition of life as in any condition. And on 
(62) 



The Belief that Saves. 63 

a sober view of the situation, we can think of no 
demand of universal application except it be that 
of the heart, the whole heart, and nothing but the 
heart. It is the only sacrifice that Heaven asks; 
the only one that God will accept, and in truth the 
only one that man has to offer; but, mark, it is a 
sacrifice of precisely the same value in every case 
as in that of any given case. 

It is to man as he is, and not as we may suppose 
he might be, that the gospel message comes; but as 
he actually is — fallen, unhappy, helpless; and this is 
always and everywhere the prominent feature of the 
gospel message: it is help for the helpless, hope for 
the hopeless, salvation for the lost. Hence, one of 
its earliest announcements is: " Behold, the king- 
dom of heaven is at hand; it is here, present; not 
that we have come to it, but, rather, it has come to 
us. Say not, then, in thy heart, Who shall ascend 
into heaven to bring Christ down from above? nor, 
Who shall descend into the deep to bring him up? 
for the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, in thy 
heart; for if thou shalt believe in thy heart that God 
hath raised Jesus from the dead, thou shalt be saved, 
for the kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion; behold, the kingdom of God is within you." 

When Jesus beheld the multitudes, and saw how 
the humble-minded, and the simple-hearted, and the 
young so gladly received his word, he rejoiced in 
spirit, and looking up to heaven, said: " Father, I 
thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from 
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
babes. ;? 



64 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

The great truths of our holy religion — all of them, 
indeed, which essentially concern our present wel- 
fare — are few, simple, and easily understood. True, 
we sometimes hear a good deal said about the mys- 
teries of the Bible; but, at the same time, it may be 
safel}^ affirmed that there is no other great book in 
the world, treating of matters of real concern, which, 
in the long run, is so comprehensible, so readily un- 
derstood, and which yields so large a sum of knowl- 
edge for the amount of labor bestowed. If, indeed, 
we pause here, and begin to inquire into the nature 
of the principles underlying these plain truths and 
the remote influences with which they may be con- 
nected, we find it but a single step into the regions 
of the mysterious; but this fact is just as true of 
nature as of revelation, and as much pertains to 
natural things as to spiritual things. 

What do we know of nature? Comparatively 
we know but little, but what we do know is suffi- 
cient for all practical, present purposes; indeed, we 
cannot remember the time when our knowledge 
was not sufficient for all present need, and this 
knowledge we have attained unto without any labor 
or effort on our part. And the same, correspond- 
ingly, is true of our religious knowledge. The 
knowledge of God, of right, of wrong, and how he 
approves of the one and disapproves of the other, 
dates back beyond the reach of memory; nay, we 
cannot remember the time when we did not already 
know something of God, and how it was right to 
be good and wrong to be bad. 

So, though our religious knowledge be compar- 






The Belie? that Saves. 65 

atively small — for now we know only port — yet it 
is sufficient for all that concerns our present wel- 
fare; and that knowledge we have attained unto 
without any labor or effort on our part. So it is 
with natural things, and so it is with spiritual 
things. We know just about as much of the one as 
we know of the other. T\ e can as readily under- 
stand the nature of the growth of grace in the heart 
as we can understand the nature of the growth of a 
stalk of corn. 

Astronomers are assured beyond the shadow of a 
doubt that there are great and glorious orbs of light 
— worlds and systems of worlds — ranging the im- 
mensity of space, though the most scrutinizing 
search of the mightiest telescope has never been 
able to sight them; and, by a process equally assur- 
ing. Christians believe that there is a heaven of rest 
for the children of God, though no mortal eye has 
been able to point out its precise locality. 

It is a notable fact that, though we know so little 
of the natural world, yet what we do know is all- 
sufficient to inspire us with interest and confidence 
in natural pursuits. "We never see one standing 
aloof from earthly enterprises because of the mys- 
terious and hidden springs of nature so completely 
eluding all human cognizance. STo 3 we are so in- 
tensely interested in them that we can only part 
with them when wrenched from our grasp. Xow, 
the way is equally open and the facilities equally in- 
viting which would successfully lead us in the pur- 
suit of things spiritual and eternal: and if there be 
faltering here, it is only because we have more heart 



66 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

for earthly than heavenly things. Let us bear in 
mind the main point set forth in the text — namely, 
that the belief of the heart is the belief that saves. 

I have no fault to find with the common defini- 
tion of faith, which embraces both the assent of the 
mind and the consent of the heart; but a close at- 
tention to the real facts of the case will show that 
the hinderances to the soul's salvation find their 
lodgment mainly, if not exclusively, in the heart. 
That one, no matter who he is or what his sur- 
roundings may be, whose heart is firmly set toward 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the desire 
of whose heart, above every other desire, is to do 
the will of God and please him in all things, cannot 
be far from the kingdom of God. We cannot con- 
ceive of such a one lingering in torment as a cast- 
away from heaven — looking up from his gloomy 
abode, saying: " Father, thy will be done, not mine; 
Father, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that 
I love thee." No sane mind believes that such a 
case ever did or ever will occur in the universe of 
God. Such an occurrence is morally impossible, 
for he who loves God with all his heart is sure to 
love his neighbor as himself, since these are so con- 
joined that none may put them asunder; and, ac- 
cording to Jesus, such love is the fulfilling of the 
. law, and all the fires and furies of perdition could 
not harm a hair of the head of one whose heart is 
thus filled with love. Over such the second death 
hath no power. Whatever the torments of the lost 
may be, they are powerless in so far as the godly 
life is concerned. A vivid illustration of this is. 



The Belief that Saves. 67 

found in the thrilling incident of the three Hebrew 
children being cast into the fiery furnace. The 
dreadful alternative was placed before them: bow 
down to an idol, and thus disown the living God 
in whom you trust, or be cast, into the flaming 
furnace. They would not linger to debate the 
question of choice. And when the king ventured 
as near as the fury of the belching flames would al- 
low, in looking in he was astonished to see four 
men loose, walking about and unharmed ; and on 
being assured that only three had been cast in, an- 
other careful look discovered to him the appear- 
ance of the Son of God in the fourth man. It was 
for the sake of the living God that these three men 
had yielded themselves as victims to their horrible 
fate; and He who had said, " I will never leave thee 
nor forsake thee," had gone in with them; and thus 
possessed of his presence and protection, on their 
"bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of 
their head singed." So it is with the lover of Jesus: 
"On such the second death hath no power." 

I am aware of the fact that there are those — and 
among them some of the excellent and amiable of 
society — whose minds rebel at the thought of the 
God of goodness and love having prepared a hell 
of torment into which to cast the erring and unfort- 
unate ones of our unhappy race. Well, there may 
be something in this; for a statement of the case 
in that form does seem to involve an incongruity. 
And, as a matter of fact, the Father of mercies never 
did prepare a hell for such a purpose. The words 
of Jesus are explicit on this point. He tells us that 



68 Sermons by A. P. McPerrin. 

the "everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and 
his angels; " but that for the human race, whom 
God hath so loved as to give his Son to die for them, 
he hath " prepared a kingdom; " and as evidence that 
this was the benign purpose from the beginning, he 
tells us that this kingdom was prepared "from the 
foundation of the world." And if one will work 
his way down to that gloomy abode, he will have 
reached a place never designed for him; he will be 
an intruder, forcing his way there despite the loving- 
kindness of God, despite the pleadings of mercy, 
and against the protestations of his own better nat- 
ure and conscience. 

There can be no doubt of the existence of a wide 
misapprehension of the true nature of the belief re- 
quired by the gospel of Christ; and the error pre- 
vails among the learned and cultivated of society as 
well as others. Some clever and amiable people 
stand aloof under the plea that they cannot fully 
subscribe to what are called the "religious opin- 
ions " which seem to be held by most Christian 
people. 

Some of you may remember a letter, written a 
few years ago, by one of the foremost men* of En- 
gland, widely known to the learned and literary 
world, touching this point, and which was exten- 
sively copied by the press of our country. lie com- 
plained of the injustice of public opinion in con- 
demning him and others of his skeptical friends, 
because of their inability to embrace honestly and 
logically the prevailing religious opinions of the 

* John Stuart Mill. 



The Belief that Saves. 69 

day. And who ever said they ought? Heaven con- 
demns no man because of his inability, in the hon- 
esty of his soul, to embrace this or that opinion 
merely as an intellectual conclusion. Even the man 
whom the Scriptures denounce as a fool because he 
said, " There is no God," was not denounced be- 
cause the subject was so high he could not attain 
to it, and the premises so recondite that he could 
not work out their logical conclusions, but because 
he said in his heart there is no God — he wished in 
his heart there was no God, would have been glad 
in his heart to be assured that there was no God. 
It was the wish of the heart in his case that was 
father to the thought of his mind, and therein rest- 
ed the point of his condemnation. For be who 
could cherish in his heart such a desire concerning 
his Heavenly Father, unto whom he is indebted for 
his existence — nay, upon whom he momentarily 
hangs for the perpetuation of that existence — that 
God without whom he can do nothing, without 
whom he is nothing, shows the presence of a vileness 
in his heart that deserves not only to be denounced 
but utterly loathed. Eo, he was not denounced 
because he failed to know, but because his heart 
was averse to what he already did well know — not 
because he failed to apprehend the truth, but be- 
cause he, in his heart, despised the truth in so far 
as he already well understood it. The condition of 
the heart, and not the measure of the understand- 
ing, is the test by which every soul of man is to pass 
the divine ordeal; and the virtue that calls forth 
the benediction of the gospel is not so much tbe 



79 Sermons by A. P. McFerein. 

apprehension of the truth as the love of it. No, the 
question of real concern is not whether you have 
subscribed to this dogma or that. Even correct re- 
ligious opinions, however desirable and valuable, 
have no intrinsic merit to guarantee a corresponding 
degree of true piety. The profoundest orthodoxy 
may coexist with a degenerate heart, while simple- 
heartedness, imbued with the mind and spirit of 
Christ, affording one of the loveliest ensamples of a 
holy life, may scarcely be cognizant of the existence 
of such things as creeds and dogmas. 

Theological problems of difficult solution and 
ponderous creeds of uneasy digestion do not, in real- 
ity, enter into the account of saving faith. Misun- 
derstand me not. I have no invectives to offer 
against creeds and dogmas. They have their own 
appropriate uses, and in so far as they are promotive 
of Christian cooperation in the works of faith and 
labors of love, and lend system, efficiency, and self- 
protection to Church organizations, they have their 
value. But isolated from all considerations of this 
kind, the question of prime, personal concern, on 
which our hopes and fears are suspended, and which 
each can only answer for himself, is, Have I given 
my heart to God? Do I desire above all things to 
know and do his will? Do I love the truth as 
it is in Jesus, as I myself understand that truth to 
be? Have I rendered that worship to God which 
I believe is due him, and which I think I ought 
to have rendered him? Have I come up to my 
own standard of what I myself judge to be right 
and true and good? Do our hearts respond to all 



The Belief that Saves. 71 

this with the overflowings of gratitude, peace, and 
love? If our heart condemn us, God is greater than 
our heart. Shall one stand before the Judge of all 
the earth, expecting to hear himself pronounced 
free from condemnation while in his own heart he 
realizes the fact that he is not? Shall one expect 
to hear that there are treasures laid up for him as a 
faithful servant, while he knows'that he never had 
a heart for God's services, and that the only treas- 
ures he ever prized were earthly and not heavenly? 
Ko, it is not the mind that "believeth unto right- 
eousness," for the mind is not the true index to the 
spiritual man, but the heart is. The heart is the 
seat of the affections — that inner man that feels, 
that suffers or enjoys, rejoices or grieves, loves or 
hates. It gives tone and complexion to the charac- 
ter of the person. In our associations in life -we 
form our estimates of character according to the 
condition of the heart, as we discern it to be. It is 
enough to say of any one he is true-hearted, tender- 
hearted, pure-hearted; or, on the contrary, he is 
false-hearted, cold-hearted, cruel-hearted. On these 
indications we make up our estimates, and act ac- 
cordingly. Xo professions of friendship, however 
fervent, no proffered aid, however helpful, would 
be desirable if we were satisfied that they were the 
promptings of a sinister heart; while the smallest 
courtesies and kindnesses, though of little value in 
themselves, are cordially esteemed because of the 
kindness of heart which prompted them. l\o arti- 
fices, however winning, and attainments, however 
brilliant, will avail if assured that a vile heart lurks 



72 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

beneath the fair exterior; we instinctively give the 
widest elbow-room to all such. A bad heart spoils 
every thing, and we can accept of no substitute 
therefor; such is the verdict we instinctively render 
despite ourselves. 

Xow, this universally recognized and indorsed 
rule, by which man governs his conduct toward his 
fellow-man, is the same that governs our relations 
to God. His word declares that he looketh not on 
appearances, but he looketh upon the heart. And 
if we will accept of no substitute for a bad heart, 
neither will God. " Though one shall speak with the 
tongue of an angel, and give all his goods to feed 
the poor," yet, if there lingered beneath all a bad 
heart, these outward expressions of excellency and 
greatness would be but as " sounding brass or a 
tinkling cymbal." 

Jesus has pointed out certain dispositions of char- 
acter, on which he has pronounced his benedictions; 
and it is observable that they all have special refer- 
ence to the condition of the heart. Thus: "Blessed 
are the poor in spirit/' indicating great humiliation 
of heart; "Blessed are thev that mourn," evincing 
a penitent and contrite heart; "Blessed are the 
peace-makers," manifesting benevolence and gentle- 
ness of heart; while the summing up of all these 
pronounced benedictions is expressed in the declar- 
ation, "'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 
see God," as the one indispensable requisite for the 
realization of God's blessedness and the enjoyment 
of his heaven. 

Yes, the heart is well-nigh every thing in religion, 



The Belief that Saves. 73 

and, I might add, in social life, too. It is the heart 
that makes our homes pleasant, joyous, and happy; 
or it is the heart that makes them dreary, thorny, 
and desolate. It is the heart, shedding its benign 
influence on society, that makes it so peaceful and 
delightful as to become a type of heaven itself; or 
it is the heart that poisons all its streams, embitters 
its enjoyments, and impedes its progress. It is a 
power for good or evil, and under God becomes the 
arbiter of man's destiny for weal or woe. Its belief 
unto righteousness is the one indispensable requisite 
for the enjoyment of heaven, without which heaven 
itself ceases to be heaven. Even the choicest bless- 
ings of this life constitute no source of enjoyment 
for him who has no heart for them; how, then, shall 
the things of heaven, essentially pure and holy, be- 
come enjoyable, or even appreciable, to him who has 
no likes, no preferences, no heart for such things? 
An entrance to heaven, therefore, is barred against 
him, and him only, who bars his heart against the 
divine and saving power of Christ's religion. Such 
is the simple and accessible way to eternal life, de- 
spite the traditions and commandments of men to 
the contrary. The profoundest philosopher, there- 
fore, receives the kingdom of God as a little child, 
while the little child as assuringly receives it as the 
profoundest philosopher; for God " hath made fool- 
ish the wisdom of this world," and may ofttimes be 
pleased to speak with an audibleness of voice to an 
infant Samuel what he withholds from an aged Eli. 
How amply hath a loving Heavenly Father pro- 
vided for his helpless children ! The widow, the in- 



74 Sermons by A. P. McFerrdt. 

ventory of whose estate all told amounted to the sum 
of two mites, and the lad whose stock in trade con- 
sisted of five barley loaves and two little fishes, have 
the same outfit for journeying to the heavenly world 
as the millionaire. The tribute which Heaven asks 
is, " Son, daughter, give me thy heart; " a provision 
that obliterates all distinction between fortune and 
misfortune, so called. The cripple, whose limbs long 
since refused their further service, shall not be left 
behind by the fleetest runner; and every blind Bar- 
timeus will as surely find his way as he of keenest 
vision. It is in the heart that God writes his law 
and implants his own image; makes it his habita- 
tion through the Spirit — Christ in you, in the heart, 
the hope of glory. 



MARTHA AND MARY. 



Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain 
village; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her 
house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' 
feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much 
serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my 
sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help 
me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou 
art careful and troubled about many things ; but one thing is needful ; 
and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away 
from her." Luke x. 3S-42. 

JESUS, while a sojourner on earth, had his friend- 
ships ; and he highly prized them. He sanctified 
the socialitiesof life by lending them his presence, and 
by a personal participation in their enjoyments; and 
though he had not where to lay his head — that is, no 
place he could call his own — yet, here and there, and 
elsewhere, there were comfortable and happy homes 
into which he ever found a ready welcome and a 
cordial greeting. Such a home he found at the 
house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, in the village 
of Bethany, some two miles out of the great city of 
Jerusalem. 

It has been supposed by some that Martha was the 
oldest of the family; that she was a widow, and that 
the homestead belonged to her — her younger sister 
and brother living with her. However this may be, 
the inference seems plain that she was regarded as 
the head of the household, and the director of its 

(75) 



76 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

affairs. The friendships subsisting between this lit- 
tle family and Jesus constitute one of the most pleas- 
ing and interesting incidents connected with his 
earthly life. The names of Martha, Mary, and Laz- 
arus will, for all time, hold a cherished and hallowed 
place in the remembrance and affections of God's 
people, because of the friendships and hospitalities 
they were ever so ready to show to Jesus. To this 
day, wherever the lover of Jesus is found, the wide 
world over, the mention of these names suggests the 
kindliest and pleasantest recollections. 

One of the most impressive and important mira- 
cles wrought by Jesus was in connection with this 
little family — the death and resurrection of the 
brother, Lazarus. This striking event is mentioned 
only in the Gospel by John; and there must have 
been some profound reason for the silence and ab- 
sence of the remotest allusion to it by Matthew, Mark, 
and Luke. Probably when the last named wrote 
their histories, the family were still living in Beth- 
any, and thus directing attention to them would 
likely have resulted in persecution even to their de- 
struction. But when John wrote his Gospel, long 
years had elapsed. He relates how the Jews sought 
to kill Lazarus and thus put out of sight this liv- 
ing attestation of the divine power of Jesus. But 
when John wrote, the danger was all past; and 
though Lazarus may have lived — as tradition 
has it — thirty years after Jesus had raised him 
from the dead, yet the probabilities are that this 
little family had now all gone from earth — gone 
up, now in their turn, to be the guests of Jesus. 



Martha and Mary. 77 

Their enraged enemies and persecutors were also 
gone — gone to the land of silence and of shade, 
where the tongue of bitterness grows dumb in death, 
and the hand of cruelty lies benumbed and palsied 
forevSr. Such was the little home at Bethany, to 
which Jesus was wont to resort for awhile to rest 
from his toils and cares, and for the enjoyments of 
the social and sacred friendships of life. 

Luke, in the narrative here given, introduces us 
to the occasion of one of these visits. He was al- 
ways a welcome guest, but this time his coming 
afforded special joy. 

Mary was so much rejoiced that she straightway 
laid aside her every employment, and seated herself 
near, to be entertained and edified by His gracious 
discourse. Martha, on her part, was no less delighted 
that Jesus had come, though she had a different way 
of showing it. And so it is to this day. The com- 
ing of Jesus as a heavenly guest always occasions 
gladness; though one may evince this gladness one 
way, and another in quite a different way, while 
both are rejoiced at his coming. 

Martha showed her high appreciation of his visit 
by busying herself in arranging her household af- 
fairs to the best advantage, in order to contribute 
to his entertainment and comfort. Likely, her 
special care was given to the preparation of the 
table, and the bringing forth of the choicest dainties 
that the resources of her home could supply. She 
found that there were many things here and there 
that required prompt attention. Her hands were 
more than full, and she needed the presence and as- 



78 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

eistance of her sister Mary, who certainly ought to 
have known that her help was much needed ; and she 
could not help wondering why Mary did not excuse 
herself and come to her assistance. But there sat 
Sister Mary, utterly oblivious of all time and toil 
and care. At length, feeling that patience itself 
was about exhausted, Martha went directly to 
Jesus, and said: "Lord, carest thou not that sister 
has left every thing for me to do? Bid her come and 
help me." That Martha should have gone to Jesus 
with such a matter is evidence of the cordial rela- 
tions of friendship subsisting between him and the 
family. Mary was silent; ready to cheerfully abide 
the decision. Jesus replied: "'Martha, Martha" — 
this repetition of her name evincing great respect, 
kindness, and sympathy — "you are distressing your- 
self with too much care and anxiety; but one thing 
is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part 
which shall never be taken from her." 

There are those who construe the reply of Jesus 
as a reproof to Martha. I cannot think so. Her 
anxiety was to do all in her power to contribute to 
the comfort and enjoyment of her honored guest, 
and thereby showed the nobleness of her generous 
heart; and that Jesus should repel these praisewor- 
thy motives by a reproof is a supposition wholly 
foreign to the tone and temper of his loving life. 
A courteous way of relieving Martha's mind of any 
extra care on his account, with a gentle reminder 
that even in that which is good and commendable 
one may take on so much of care and anxiety as to 
disturb the mind and shut out from the heart that 



Martha and Mary. 79 

light and joy which are ever the rightful heritage of 
the lover of Jesus, seems to be the purport of his 
reply to Martha. 

In his earthly life, Jesus had many enemies; but 
he also had many friends, and of these none were 
found truer than woman. When others wavered, 
she was steadfast; when others grew timid, her cour- 
age was equal to the occasion. When the fearful 
crisis came, and all seemed to be lost, and his disci- 
ples had fled hither and thither, she remained, stand- 
ing by and looking on, agonizing with him through 
the last dreadful hours till the last pang was over. 
And early on the third morning, while the depart- 
ing night still lingered in darkness over a bereaved 
and desolate world, she was first at the sepulcher of 
her crucified Lord, to show her devotion, though it 
should only be by weeping over the lost cause. So 
it was, and so it has been — woman has ever occupied 
a front place among the truest friends of Jesus. And 
well she may afford to be his friend. It is to him 
and the hallowing influences of his holy religion that 
she is preeminently indebted not only for the hope3 
of the life- to come, but for the dignity and honors 
of her present position in the world. 

In all ages and among all peoples, where Jesus 
and the teachings of revealed religion have been un- 
known, woman has been assigned the lower position 
of an inferior. It is the teachings of God's word 
and the hallowing influences of his religion alone 
that have recognized her merits, and caused her in- 
fluence to be appropriately manifested in the ad- 
vancement of true religion and the refinement and 



80 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

progress of human society. And such is the hon- 
ored position assigned her by revealed religion from 
the first. At the very beginning of earth's sorrows, 
God placed on her brow the crown of honor and im- 
mortality, in the announcement that by the seed of 
the woman should come the world's Redeemer. And 
when the promised * Redeemer made his appearing, 
and set about the work he had come to accomplish, 
the very first miracle he ever wrought was in honor 
of his mother — a compliance with her wishes. And 
among the first sufferers he relieved was his chief 
apostle's mother-in-law, who lay sick of a fever. 
When he put forth his power to show that even 
death was under his dominion, it was to restore to 
a weeping, disconsolate widow her only son; to Jai- 
rus his only daughter; and to his friends Martha 
and Mary their only brother. 

One of the notable features of the ministry of Je- 
sus was the great number of women who flocked to 
hear him; and so intent were they that nothing 
should hinder them, they took their children in their 
arms with them. And as they listened to his words 
of grace and truth, they seemed intuitively to appre- 
hend the wide scope and benevolence of gospel grace, 
and under its inspiring impulses they pressed for- 
ward to his presence, presenting him their little 
children that they might receive his blessing. Such 
an unheard-of procedure excited the astonishment 
of all beholders; even his disciples thought it was 
time for them to step forward and interfere, and by 
waving them back with their hands and with prot- 
estations of "Don't! ladies, if you please, don't!" 



Martha and Mary. 81 

prevent the unseemly intrusion. But the sequel 
proved that they understood Jesus better than his 
own disciples did. Jesus graciously accepted the 
overture, and then and there proceeded to pro- 
nounce such a blessing on little children as to en- 
hance their endearment to their mother's hearts for 
all time to come. 

The Bible in all ages has recognized woman as 
an important factor in the religious welfare of the 
world. In its earlier history we are made familiar 
with the names of its Sarahs, its Bebeccas, its Ba- 
chels, its Miriams, its Deborahs, its Hannahs, its 
Esthers; and in the gospel era with its Elizabeths, 
its Marys, its Marthas, its Lydias, its Tabithas, its 
Priscillas, its elect ladies; and the history of the 
Church, of Christ thenceforward to this clay bears 
testimony that the line of their noble succession has 
remained unbroken. 

It is true that in this our day of new ideas and 
rapid progress there are found those, with their 
bogus schemes, who prate much about "woman's 
rights; 9} who would place her upon the rostrum, and 
have her intermingle with the excitements and tur- 
moils of the ballot-box; but it may be confidently 
believed that, repudiating all such overtures, she 
will retain the throne of power on which God has 
placed her as the companion and the joint proprie- 
tor with man. Of all the missionaries of Christ, she 
occupies the front rank. It is from her that life's 
first lessons are learned; and these first lessons, 
more than all others, are the ones that give bent 
and bias to human destiny. When the after les- 
6 



82 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

sons of life have lost their influence over the mind 
and heart, these first lessons may, when all else 
has failed, call back the wanderer from his im- 
pending fate, and recover the lost one even from 
the very brink of despair. So it is in every sphere 
of life, whether it be so with the king who sits 
on his throne, or the sailor -w 7 ho navigates distant 
seas and roams the wide w T orld over. Ah! who is 
it that does not feel his indebtedness for the hal- 
lowing influences of his first lessons received from 
a mother's lips? I hereby acknowledge my thank- 
fulness to God that it was my good fortune to re- 
ceive life's first lessons from a good and pious 
mother; and I w r as blessed with her earthly contin- 
uance with me till she had attained to extreme old 
age; yet in her declining days, when it was appar- 
ent that her further stay must be short, I was in 
dread of hearing that she had gone from earth, 
knowing that its announcement would oppress me 
with a sense of sad orphanage never felt before, and 
that the place she had vacated none other could ever 
fill. Finally the news came, but the desolation of 
heart was not such as I dreaded; I felt, and yet feel, 
that she is mother still — mother in heaven instead 
of on earth — and all the nearer and dearer because 
she is in heaven; and that if I shall meet her there, 
I may still call her mother. 

The w r eal or woe of a nation essentially depends 
on the character of its homes; as are its homes, so 
is its exaltation or degradation. Woman is essenti- 
ally the light and joy of home; and if it be hallowed 
and happy, it is because of her; without her, there 



Martha and Mary. 83 

can be no home in the high and sacred import of 
the term. Therefore, though the sphere in which 
she moves may seem to be limited and narrow, yet 
the influence she wields is coextensive with the in- 
terests of humanity. Nevertheless, her employ- 
ments, her duties, her responsibilities, are encum- 
bered with so many things, such endless details, 
as ofttimes to render her situation all the more try- 
ing and difficult. It is true that man's employments 
also have their cares and perplexities; yet his are 
out-of-doors, and at evening-time he may return to 
his home, and in some measure shut them out and 
himself within; but hers are ever present, ending 
only with the last watches of the night, to begin 
again with the first of the morning. And when she 
remembers how much the light and joy of home 
depend on her, a sense of the weight of the respon- 
sibility resting on her may superinduce a state of 
mind so encumbered with cares and anxieties as to 
shut out that joy and sunshine of the soul which 
are ever the rightful heritage of the lovers of Jesus. 

I reckon that when the situation becomes thus 
trying, it would be well to follow the example of 
Sister Mary, and just lay aside every thing and go 
and sit awhile at the feet of Jesus. Surely no loss 
could be suffered thereby, but much of gain every 
way, with the agreeable surprise to find that many 
of these perplexities should have suddenly disap- 
peared of themselves. • 

One of the lessons inculcated in this interesting 
visit of Jesus — a lesson of inestimable value, which 
should be a source of comfort to every womanly 



. 84 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

heart — is that she has the sympathy and friendship 
of Jesus to encourage her in the midst of her cares 
and anxieties. Think of it a moment: here is Jesus, 
King of kings and Lord of lords, who possesses all 
power in heaven and earth, in the family home, 
giving his attention and lending his sympathies to 
Martha in the midst of her household cares. Are 
we to suppose that this has been left on record by 
inspiration merely as an interesting incident? Nay, 
verily; it is recorded for the benefit of all women 
who are the friends of Jesus, for all after time, that 
they may be assured of his sympathy and helping 
grace when in the midst of sorrows or anxieties. 

And here the lesson so enlarges itself as to em- 
brace all the legitimate labors and employments of 
life; for cares and anxieties are the common lot 
of all. And man, however self-reliant he may feel 
himself to be, will find himself surrounded with 
difficulties which he has neither the strength nor 
the wisdom to dispose of. One of the sad mistakes 
of the world is the forgetfulness of the fact that 
God is the author and giver of all good, whether 
temporal or spiritual; and one of the many good 
things for which a righteous man may pray is 
wisdom to " guide his affairs with discretion;" and 
he who supposes he needs no such helps has sadly 
overestimated himself, a fact which he may ulti- 
mately find out to his great discomfiture. 

3STo man can adopt a wiser and safer guide than to 
lay all labors, enterprises, and investments before 
God, and ask his helping, guiding hand. Every 
man has two lines to run — the one is temporal, and 



Martha and Mary. 85 

the other is his spiritual interest. Both are assigned 
him of God; and the two can be run more success- 
fully together than either can be separately. And 
I think that a very poor business, and one not 
worth following, into which one cannot carry his 
religion. And I think that a very poor religion 
which will not bear contact w T ith the' hard places 
and rough points of the legitimate pursuits of life; 
I am sure it is not such a religion as Jesus has in- 
culcated. 

How r greatly does this beautiful and interesting in- 
cident enhance our appreciation of the friendship of 
Jesus ! His friendship was that good part which Ma- 
ry had chosen — a friendship that showed itself in lov- 
ing to sit at his feet; and having that, she was content 
with all things else. It is the one thing needful — 
which, first or last, every one will find out — that sat- 
isfies all other needs. All that hope can suggest or 
heart desire is assured by the friendship of Jesus. 
Friendship ! earth's vocabulary scarcely contains any 
term more endearing to humanity. How highly do 
we prize even human friendships, and how insuffera- 
bly dreary would the present life be without them! 
To be utterly friendless means that there is but one 
more step to utter despair. . 

But human friendships, highly as we prize them, 
can accompany us but a short distance. There is a 
point before you, and not far away, beyond w T hich 
they cannot go, and you will be borne omvard for- 
ever beyond their reach, white they will recede back 
to be numbered with the things of the irrecovera- 
ble past; and how T will you tread the dark and 



86 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

lonesome vale bereft of the support which friend- 
ship alone can give, and the comfort which sympa- 
tic alone can afford? But not so with the friend- 
ship of Jesus. It spans the lonely void, and unites 
the present and future world. He does not send a 
summons after his friends; he comes for them and 
takes them to himself, that "where he is they may 
be also." 

Emergencies will overtake us when all hope shall 
have fled save that which rests in the friendship of 
Jesus. "We have a touching instance of this which 
occurred with this little family — his dear friends of 
Bethany. Their brother Lazarus was taken sick, 
and when the sisters saw that he was evidently near 
unto death, that all human remedies and helps were 
likely to prove unavailing, then the longing of their 
souls went out for the coming of Jesus. But he 
was far away, and what should they do? It seems 
that they kept themselves well posted as to his * 
whereabouts, and rest they could not until Jesus 
should know their deep tribulation; and the}', ac- 
cording^, procured a messenger, that he might be 
sent forthwith to apprise him of their sad condition. 
Directing the messenger whither to go, that he might 
find him, they bid him to deliver this message to him : 
Say to him, for us and in our name, " Lord, he whom 
thou lovest is sick." How simple, how sympathetic, 
how full of meaning ! They do not say, " Go tell him 
we are in dark troubles as never before ; " yet it means 
all that, and more ; but he will understand it. They 
do not say, " Go tell him to come speedily to our 
relief;" yet it means all that, and more; but he will 



Martha and Mary. 87 

understand it all. No; just say, "Lord, he whom 
thou lovest is sick." 

When Jesus received this message, the overflow- 
ing sympathies of his heart would have prompted 
him to go speedily to the relief of his dear friends. 
But infinite benevolence mast ever be in accord 
with infinite wisdom, and ofttimes there is wis- 
dom in delay. So he purposely delayed his ar- 
rival at Bethany for four days. The tribulations 
and anxieties of the dear sisters would be greatly 
intensified thereby, which would cause him deep 
groanings in spirit and tears of sorrow on their ac- 
count. Nevertheless, good should come of this de- 
lay which would more than a thousand-fold compen- 
sate for the present distress. For the sake of his 
disciples then present, as well as for those of all 
after time, and for the special sake of Martha and 
Mary, he would manifest the value of his friendship 
in a way impossible under ordinary circumstances. 
He would now have them know, as they never be- 
fore had known, the unfailing nature of his friend- 
ship. He would have them know that the yearn- 
ings of soul which long for his coming shall never 
be disappointed. Delaj* he may; but neglect or for- 
get, never. lie will come, but never too late. On 
the contrary, he will come just at the right time and 
at the best time, and when his coming will do the 
most good. Had Jesus hasted to Martha and Mary 
in time to arrest the disease, and prevent the death 
of their brother, great indeed would have been their 
gratitude and joy; but as he had come when the 
time for relief, as they supposed, had forever gone, 



88 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

and when hope had winged its flight to return no 
more, the restoration of their brother would be such 
a wonder of joy as to fill them with a gratitude en- 
hancing to all eternity. 

O my hearer, can you claim that you have the 
friendship of Jesus? He will recognize the claim, 
if you do his commandments. It is a matter of 
momentous concern. There will be trouble at your 
house some of these days. Lazarus will sicken and 
grow worse and worse, and when all earthly hope 
is fled, with agonizing spirit your cries will go up 
to heaven for the help of Him who is the helper of 
the helpless, and the hope of the hopeless, to come 
to your relief. He always comes in answer to the 
cries of those who love him. He may come speed- 
ily, or his coming may be delayed; in either case, he 
is never forgetful. 

O the Lazaruses lie buried all over this country, 
in whose behalf strong cries and tears have gone up 
into His ears; and though four clays, and four years, 
and these indefinitely multiplied, have passed away, 
he will nevertheless come; and his coming is never 
too late. But at the right and best time, these cries 
will be attended to, and the Lazaruses shall be raised, 
and all the Marthas and Marys will be there to re- 
ceive them again to life; and what a glorious life 
it will be— a life which shall know no termination, 
and shall be of ever-expanding and ever-enhancing 
bliss ! My hearer, in whatever else you may fail, fail 
not in this: to secure the friendship of Jesus. 



MOUNT ZION, OR THE CHURCH. 



fa Beautiful for situation, tlie joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion." 
Psalm xlviii. 2. 

WE sometimes hear it said, " There is nothing 
in a name;" and however true this may be in 
itself, yet it is also true that the bare mention of a 
name, on account of its associations, will often' ex- 
cite the liveliest emotions of the soul. The name 
of the old church in which the aged Christian pil- 
grim first realized the joy of pardoning grace will 
be precious to him while life endures. 

Abraham gave a name to the place where he 
offered up his son ; and because another sacrifice 
was found, and his Isaac was restored to him, that 
name — Jehovah-jireh — was, ever after, a remem- 
brancer to him that " the Lord will provide." Jacob, 
while on a long journey to Paclan-aram, spent a 
night of awful solitude, with stones for his pillow, 
but the break of day awoke him from such heavenly 
visions that he gave the place a name, that the re- 
membrance of it should not let him forget that he 
had there been brought so near to the gates of heaven 
as to see the angels descending and ascending. 

Many of the names and places common to God's 
ancient people have acquired a significance, in the 
progress of ages, of peculiar and sacred interest. 
Canaan and Jerusalem have been embalmed in the 

(89) 



90 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

songs of God's children through successive gener- 
ations, and continue to find their antitypes in the 
"better country" and the " city whose maker and 
builder is God/' situated beyond the Jordan of death. 

And so with Mount Zion : it symbolizes the Church 
of God, and it is doubtless in this accommodated 
sense that the psalmist points to it as beautiful for 
situation, and as the joy of the whole earth. And 
it is the Church of Christ, crowned with the glo- 
ries of her ultimate triumphs, which delights his vis- 
ion when he exclaims in another psalm, " Of Zion it 
shall be said this and that man was born in her, 
and the Highest himself shall establish her; the 
Lord shall count, when he writeth up his people, 
that this man was born there ! " This is the Mount 
Zion also of the New Testament: unto which "ye 
are come, the city of the living God, the general 
assembly and Church of the first-born.' 5 

Then, the object presented before us for our con- 
sideration is the Church of Christ. As a visible 
organization in the world, the human element, with 
its consequent frailties, of necessity enters largely 
into it; and it is not to be wondered at if the wary 
eye shall detect many weaknesses and imperfections 
even in its most successful workings; but these are 
the very facts that most of all plead for its utility 
and necessity, as a means of mutual help; for the 
support of the weak, for the cultivation and dis- 
cipline of humble learners, and for the general wel- 
fare of all; the Church is made for man, rather than 
man for the Church. Christ and him crucified is 
the sum and substance of all revealed religion; and 



Mount Zion, or the Church. 91 

the hearts of his devoted followers constitute the 
peculiar empire over which he reigns; and those 
who are thus united to him by the ties of a living 
faith, together with all who have not forfeited the 
saving relation held to him by redemption, consti- 
tute his true spiritual Church, the accidents of vis- 
ible organization being its less essential features. 
The efficiency of Church organizations depends on 
personal piety of the individuals composing 
them, and from the unquestioned humility, faith, 
and charity of such we must make our true esti- 
mate of His visible Church. Is there a power in 
faith? is there a good in love? is there a beauty in 
holiness? — these are the questions of real moment; 
and do they find their satisfactory solution in the 
unmistakable virtues of Christ's religion? 

Church organization, like any other, to be effi- 
cient must have purposes to be accomplished, and 
these must be only such as have in view the glory 
of Christ and the edification of his followers, while 
the means employed must be in harmony with the 
spirit of Christ and the teachings of the Is"ew Testa- 
ment. He that would be chief must show himself 
such by being servant of all, and all to serve one 
another in love, in honor preferring one another. 
While there are thus the bonds of a common sym- 
pathy, there must also, in the nature of the case, be 
some to lead, others to follow. In the diversity of 
gifts there should be the wise employment of all: 
the wiser must lend the benefits of their wisdom, and 
stronger uphold the weak; and it matters not 
greatly how these ends are met, if done in a way 



92 Sermons by A. P. McFermx. 

that shall be for the edification of all. The Xew 
Testament does not seem to furnish any thing for 
guidance here, further than a few general and clearly 
expressed principles — leaving a large liberty here as 
in all else that pertains to human society — so that 
these principles shall not be violated, nor the accom- 
plishment of anything attempted inconsistent with 
them. Therefore, the formularies of one Church 
may, in many respects, differ from that of another, 
and yet both be equally useful, and alike acceptable 
to God. 

The requirements of our holy religion are few 
and simple, insomuch that Christ has made love the 
fulfilling of the law; and no Church code should at- 
tempt to go further. With an observance of the 
simple divine teachings which are given, an unob- 
structed field lies open for enterprise, free and in- 
viting for all who may enter. But when, on the 
contrary, the ruling elements are found to be selfish- 
ness, sordid ambition, a hankering after mere worldly 
purposes, such organization ceases to be the Church 
of Christ, and has become a perverter of the truth as 
it is in Jesus. In such a case, however, there might 
be, and likely would be, individual members, who 
have had no hand in these perversions, still retain- 
ing their personal piety, while the Church to which 
they belong may, as an organization, have ceased to 
hold any true relation to Christ; and if a like fate 
were to befall all the visible organizations in the 
world, the Church of Christ, in its essential char- 
acteristics, would still remain. God is able of the 
stones to raise up children to Abraham; and no 



Mount Zion,. or the Church. 93 

apostasy, however general, shall leave God without 
his witnesses. The personal faith and love of those 
who still remain true to Christ will instinctively 
lead them to such befitting associations as will legit- 
imately and naturally develop a true visible Church 
of Christ. 

Church formularies certainly cannot possess the 
importance that some so tenaciously claim for them; 
if so, surely the New Testament, which so plainly 
treats of all that concerns faith and practice, would 
have given us something more definite in regard 
thereto. The forms and ceremonies of religion, it 
is admitted, are appropriate in their place, and may 
be serviceable in giving system, regularity, and effi- 
ciency to its duties; but it seems plain that these 
are left largely to the discretion of those composing 
such organizations, so that they, in the letter or 
spirit, do not become violators of the spirit and 
meekness of true piety. 

The Church of Christ, though admitting so largely 
the human element, with its accompanying weak- 
nesses, is nevertheless, under God, the hope of the 
world; and no enterprises, no interests, under the 
guidance of the Holy Spirit, are comparable to 
hers. There are thousands who never think of the 
benefits they constantly derive simply from its 
presence and influence. What is it that gives good 
cheer to the present life but the hope of its being 
the harbinger of another and better just ahead? 
Whence the sacred power in sympathy save in that 
Christianity which sanctifies humanity to itself? 
How much of the value of earthly possessions and 



94 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

-the charms of social life would remain if bereft of 
its safeguards and its virtues? The fields you sow 
in hope, the harvests you gather into barns, the in- 
vestments you make in view of future returns, the 
ties of friendship and affection which you so dearly 
prize, derive their chief enhancement from the be- 
nign influence of Christ's religion. 

And it is when the kingdoms of this world shall 
fully become Christ's that earth may find its anti- 
dote for all its woes; and till this day shall be, our 
Lord has left it as the standing prayer of his fol- 
lowers, " Letthy kingdom come, thy will be done, in 
earth as it is in heaven." Then, indeed, shall his 
Church be the joy of the whole earth, and in the 
fullness of joy; then shall she appear without spot 
or wrinkle as the bride of the Lamb. 

Behold her thus as beautiful for situation, the joy 
of the whole earth: her adorning the jewels of 
faith, hope, and charity; her voice that of glad 
tidings; her love that which casteth out all fear; 
her peace that which passeth understanding; in her 
hand are length of days, riches and honors ever- 
more; and in her heart of hearts joy inexpressible 
and full of glory. 

But we must not forget that the day of conflict 
is not yet ended; from the first it has struggled 
against the powers of earth and of darkness. It is 
as the Church militant that the psalmist invites us 
to walk about Zion, and mark well her bulwarks 
and numerous defenses; in beholding these, his prac- 
ticed eye assured him that against her the gates of 
hell should never prevail. And that preserving prov- 



Mount Zxon, or the Church. 95 

idence that has perpetuated her existence through 
all the varied fortunes of earth is itself marvelous 
in our eyes. 

So it is. The fashion of the world passes away; 
empires rise and fall; nations make for themselves 
names and -histories, and altogether perish; but 
through all and over all, her course is onward, show- 
ing no signs of fatigue, no marks of decay, no wan- 
ing of power, but rather the gathering of increased 
strength with the ages, so that while all things else 
fail and fall, she is but making ready for yet more 
glorious surprises. 

Though sometimes called the Church militant, 
yet her weapons of warfare are not carnal. Her 
only sword is that of the Spirit — the Word of God. 
With it she has won all her triumphs, with it she 
will overcome the world. Her mandate now is the 
same as at first: Go, and as you go preach — preach 
the word — not with enticing words of man's wis- 
dom, but in power and demonstration of the Spirit; 
this is the power that is to conquer. 

But the power of the preached word is not in its 
philosophy, nor in its poetry, nor in its sublime image- 
ry, but rather in the still small voice that tells con- 
science of duty, of the hurt of sin, of the bar of 
justice, of offended mercy, of redeeming love. 
Plain truths are these, and great— great because 
they are plain, and plain because they are great; 
and it is by the preaching of these— the " foolish- 
ness of preaching" them— that the world is to be 
subdued to Christ. 

In harmony with the word, prayer is another 



96 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

of the mighty weapons whose power has proved it- 
self to be sufficient to shake the foundation of prison 
walls, to close the mouths of lions, to quench the 
flames of the fiery furnace, to overcome the world, 
to prevail with God. Elijah prayed, and the yield- 
ing clouds responded in copious showers; and to 
this day, this hour, prayer continues to receive its 
copious supplies from on high. But we need not 
further enumerate the defenses which God has 
thrown around his Church, since it is enough for us 
that they are such as to make it the safely abiding 
refuge for every soul of man ; that it securely abides 
in the midst of otir sorrowful world, with open 
doors, and hearty invitations and welcomes for every 
returning prodigal, and every weary wanderer of 
earth. 

One more view of Mount Zion. It was the seat 
of the king's palaces. There royalty spread its ta- 
bles and made its feasts, dispensed its honors and 
its enjoyments. 

So our Mount Zion. Its chief attraction is in its 
being the abode of the King of kings. " Lo, I am 
with you," says Christ; and "where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, I am in the 
midst." ISTo organization, however splendid its ap- 
purtenances, however gorgeous its temples, however 
pretentious its ritual, has claim to the name it would 
usurp if Christ dwells not in the midst. 

His dwelling is with the lowly. His is a living 
temple built of living stones, cemented by love, 
supjjorted by faith, and sanctified by grace. 

What a model of beauty! What a picture of joy 



Mount Zion, or the Church. 97 

shall our Zion be when crowned with ultimate vic- 
tory — constituting the general assembly of the 
Church of the first-born, made up of the pure, the 
good, the beautiful of every age, and Christ him- 
self, the chiefest among the tens of thousands, the 
bright morning-star of them all, being the central 
figure of the whole. May I, may you, be there to 
see ! 

Such is our Mount Zion. Is there one who shall 
refuse to say, Let her fortunes be my fortune, her 
destiny my destiny? 

When earth shall give out her last dying-notes, 
casting off her terrestrial garb, invested with celes- 
tial drapery, she shall thenceforth be the glory of 
heaven, as hitherto the joy of the whole earth. 
7 



GATHERING UP THE FRAGMENTS. 



"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." 
John vi. 12. 

THE miracle wrought by Jesus in the feeding of 
five thousand men, besides women and children, 
with five barley loaves and two small fishes, seems to 
have made a deep impression on the minds of his 
disciples, as each of the four Gospel histories has 
narrated the facts concerning it; while the multi- 
tudes who were the participants and beneficiaries of 
the occasion were so inspirited by this unexpected 
munificence on the part of Jesus that they straight- 
way went about to proclaim him King. 

They readily perceived that so striking an ex- 
hibition of exhaustless resources to meet the wants 
of his people would make him the most desirable 
ruler ever invested with the prerogatives of sover- 
eignty. 

Their verdict was preeminently just — their only 
mistake being in looking upon the matter wholly 
in its natural aspects. Had they borne in mind the 
declaration made by himself, that his kingdom was 
not of this world, they might have discerned in 
these broken loaves the emblem of that " bread of 
life" so essential to the spiritual life, and which he 
alone can supply. 

It is this manifestation of his divine power over 
(98) 



Gathering Up the Fragments. 09 

all flesh, whether for the present or future life, that 
preeminently entitles him to the claim as being 
"King of kino;s and Lord of lords. 7 ' The methods 
of teaching adopted by Jesus were peculiar to him- 
self, and such as no other can even imitate — by par- 
able and miracle — not only in his words, but also 
in his works; not only in what he said, but also 
in what he did. This miracle is richly suggestive, 
and one of its most important lessons is 

Economy. 

Probabl}' no people in the world have been more 
bountifully provided with temporal good than our- 
selves. Suffering from hunger and starvation is 
almost unknown among us. Other peoples, who 
have had a sore experience of what want is, could 
in a great measure subsist off of our wastings. No 
other people have been more largely blessed with 
religious privileges and opportunities; and yet how 
lightly we esteem them! 

^Wastefulness is not only wrong in itself, but it 
betrays the want of a proper appreciation of the 
favors bestowed. 

Economy teaches us not only the best use of the 
means afforded us, but also a proper appreciation 
of them, and constitutes the main item in the account 
that assures success, whether in things temporal or 
spiritual. 

Economy is Consistent with Munificence. 

Jesus, simply blessing and breaking, not only fed 
the immense multitude to fullness, but left an over- 



100 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

plus of fragments many fold greater than the original 
supply; yet, he would have these fragments care- 
fully gathered up, that nothing might be lost. 

The God of Nature is the God of Grace. 

And this miracle is a vivid illustration of the 
manifestation of his power in the sphere of either. 
for the benefit of his trusting children, without the 
provisions of the one infringing on those of the 
other. If the law of nature ordains that temporal 
good must come by the " sweat of the face/* the 
law of grace ordains that spiritual good must come 
as the "free gift" of Heaven; and since " there is no 
power but of God." no intervention can be possible 
to hinder the fulfillment of his beneficent purposes. 

It is plain that he who could thus feed five thou- 
sand men with so scant a supply could have as 
readily fed five million — yea. every inhabitant of the 
earth, had each been present. And if this could be 
done for one time, it is equally plain that it could 
be done for all times; and none may question the 
fact that Almighty power could perpetually feed 
the world in this way as readily as by the ordinary 
processes of planting and cultivating, and of sowing 
and reaping. And indeed, as a matter of fact, the 
same Source that supplied the food to meet the 
emergency of that special occasion is now — though 
by natural processes — as really supplying food for 
the millions of earth. But if the natural mode, in- 
volving the necessity of labor, were substituted by 
that of the miraculous, it is not difficult to discern 
how a life of idleness superinduced thereby would, 



Gathering Dp iei Fragments. 101 

in man'- [ res :-::: estat ;-. engen leT inni lie mis, 

subverting the ^reat purposes of human dev 3] [ ment 

ight out under the disciplinary pi : jess :: the 

natural life, as ] r for th 2 highc r : lture life. 

Ti in so far as we - sem fcc rn it, ia tl 

Providence loesnot lepart from the ordinary means 
: in ?ases where the gracious purposes 
; Divine G: : Inesa ms ithem effectually sub- 
I: the meager treasury of the 
ja could have supplied the money, and tl 
: supply had been near at hand. 
where food could hav 3 been >btained, th *nitisprob- 
2 this woul I >een the mc le of meeting the 

emergency. But they v.- -re in a desert place, the 
multitude were far from home, the day was far 
8] mt, an 1 in their c 1 th . t r sa .. :: life 

had forgotten to bring with them the means 
tc :." " 3ase the demands >f hunger. Had this emer- 
rtaken them simply as the result of 
theii juriosity, : : loubt they would, as susr- 

gested by the lisciples, have been summarily dis- 
missed ai 1 sent away tc provide for themselves. 
But not so; their souls were more anhungered tl 
their bodies: thej \:~ famishing for the word of 
life, and, thus urged forward, had followed Jesus to 
:':.[■: retired desert ph : Jiei he had resorted as 

a matter of prudence to avoid the blc ly lesigns 
of Herod and his Herodias, the news of whose 
vengeful murder ;: John the Baptist had just 
shed him; therefore he will not 3end them away, 
but will show the multitudes how complete a 
Saviour he is — the Saviour :: I >th 3onl and ' : 



102 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Jesus here shows his benevolence in sympathiz- 
ing with the wants of the multitudes, whether in 
their temporal or spiritual necessities; and so we, 
prompted by the Spirit of Christ, must care for 
our fellow-men by benefiting them as we may have 
opportunity in all matters pertaining to their wel- 
fare, whether of soul or body. 

Abounding Grace, 

Which more than meets the necessities of a sinful 
world, is beautifully symbolized in this miracle. 
They who hunger and thirst after righteousness 
shall be filled; and then unto such " He giveth more 
grace." 5 The loaves of " the bread of life'' have 
been multiplying themselves from that day to this. 
ISTo demand can exceed the supply. Eighteen cent- 
uries of incessant preaching has in nowise exhausted 
or lessened the fullness of the life-^ivino; word. The 
world grows old, but the gospel is ever new, waxing 
stronger and mightier. The faithful and earnest 
preaching of more than eighteen hundred years, in- 
stead of exhausting the gospel theme, seems now 
only making ready to enter more fully into .the 
merits of the subject, pointing to higher heights, 
deeper depths, and sublimer prospects, still awaiting 
the comers thereunto. 

O what a soul-inspiring theme is boundless 
grace! Surely, if one perish it shall not be for want 
of grace, but in spite of it. 

So it is; but every good gift is of God, and 
every good gift may be abused; and wasting the 
fragments is a very common mode of such abuse. 



Gathering Up the Fragments. 103 

Yes. grace is boundless; so the penitent and de- 
spairing sinner may come boldly to the throne 
of grace. But let the impenitent sinner and the 
neglectful Christian be assured that there is no 
grace to be "perverted or wasted. God supplies our 
temporal wants not in meager measure, barely to 
support life, but in such larger outpourings as to 
make life highly enjoyable; and we should receive 
them with such hearty thanksgivings as though 
they were just enough to supply our pressing needs. 
So, where sin has abounded, grace has much more 
abounded; yet, we should cherish the grace given 
with such a precious appreciation as though there 
were just barely enough to save us. 

A Large Business on a Small Capital. 

The Christian who does not aspire to a useful 
life has taken in only a partial view of the real 
situation of his surroundings. The title of Chris- 
tian is peculiarly applicable, from the fact that all 
who bear the name are called to be workers together 
with Christ in the salvation of the world; and on 
each is bestowed the special gift which will adapt 
him to his own peculiar surroundings. 

With the graces Heaven also bestows the gifts. 
Have we used them? Will one say, My gifts are so 
meager I can do nothing in so great a work? Ah! 
and what could five barley loaves and two little 
fishes do toward feeding five thousand meu, besides 
women and children? 

Small supply indeed, but it is all: and Jesus, 
looking up to heaven, blessed and brake, and by 

Ox ' St/ 



lOi Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

using the supply on hand, it multiplied. And the 
using came before the multiplying; and so it must 
ever be. God "giveth more grace;" unto whom? 
Plainly, unto him who uses what he already has. 

Ah ! brother, you were recently heard to say 
that if you could only lead in prayer like old 
Brother Trueman, how much it would delight 
you to make yourself useful as he does; while, as a 
matter of fact, Brother Trueman made his begin- 
ning with onlj" two loaves, whereas you will venture 
nothing although you have already five to begin 
with. Old Brother Trueman looked up to heaven, 
blessed and brake according to his supply, and lo ! 
he is rich in treasures laid up in heaven. Use the 
capital you have, and waste nothing; that is the 
way a large business grows from a small capital. 
So it is, and ever will be. Small beginnings lead to 
great results. The thousands of little rivulets unit- 
ing themselves together make up the larger flow- 
ing streams ; while these in turn, swelling their 
united forces, make up the great and mighty rivers, 
which flow on and onward till they become part and 
parcel of the vast, boundless ocean. 

Tall oaks from little acorns grow. And human 
greatness, however proud the eminence on which it 
stands, began its career in feeble efforts and with 
tottering footsteps. To despise the day of small 
tilings is to insure defeat in attaining to the great 
results to which they otherwise would have led. It 
is so in nature, so in grace. 

The kingdom of heaven, saj^s Jesus, is like unto 
the small quantity of leaven which the woman put 






Gathering Up the Fragments. 105 

into the measures of meal. It is lost to sight, and 
so silent are its workings that the keenest ear can- 
not detect them, but the result is the whole lump is 
leavened. Or, it is like unto the grain of mustard-seed. 
Deposited in the soil, it is lost to sight; but by and 
by a tiny spire scarcely discernible to the eye ap- 
pears, and little by little it lifts itself up and up 
till it assumes the likeness of a tree, with branches 
so strong that the birds of heaven perch upon them 
to send up their joyous notes and songs of praise to 
their great Creator and beneficent Protector. 



BUSINESS AND RELIGION, 



"Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit." Romans xii. 11. 

IF any one should wish to find the key to good 
luck, I think I can safely say it can be found in 
these words of the apostle — "Not slothful in busi- 
ness; fervent in spirit." He who would make the 
present life a complete success must run two lines — 
the one pertaining to his temporal good, the other to 
his eternal welfare. And there is no necessary rival- 
ry between them; they may be and ought to be mu- 
tual helps. The steadfastness of aim, fixedness of 
purpose, and patient perseverance so essential to a 
successful business life are the very elements on 
which a successful religious life is also based. When 
these are happily conjoined, as the apostle has here 
connected them, absolute failure is impossible; for 
while diligence in business secures temporal good, 
fervency of spirit — its counterpart — secures that 
which is eternal. 

The prevailing notion that the relation subsisting 
between business and religion is of an unfriendly 
nature will account for many of the failures of the 
present life. Each, it is true, is beset with its own 
peculiar difficulties, but their divorcement only ag- 
gravates the difficulties of either. 

While the religion of Christ does not release us 
from the natural evils of the present life, it does so 
(106) 



Business and Religion. 107 

far modify them as to abate much of their force, and 
convert them into blessings; still they have to be 
encountered according to the allotments of life. If 
we would eat bread, it must be gained in the sweat 
of the face; if we would live in houses, we must 
build them; if we would pluck the fruit of vine- 
yards, we must plant them and prune them; if we 
would acquire knowledge, if we would attain to in- 
tellectual, social, or moral excellence, i-t must be by 
the slow and toilsome steps of unceasing applica- 
tion — in a word, the toils and hazards of life are to 
be met and overcome according to the appointments 
of nature and Providence. 

These may be termed natural and necessary evils; 
necessary because of the wise and salutary purposes 
they are caused to subserve — acting as they do as 
restraints on the impetuosity of man's depraved 
temperament. For it will readily appear that the 
moderate and skillful labor requisite to procure his 
daily bread not only adds to healthfullness of body 
and cheerfulness of mind, but also guards him 
against the vice and ruin into which idleness would 
inevitably precipitate him. Sufferings and dangers 
likewise serve as so many curbs to restrain the 
fierceness of his nature. If he could, devour like the 
lion, if he could run like the antelope, if he could 
fly like the eagle, then these powers, in connection 
with his untamed spirit, would only serve to deepen 
and widen the woes and curses of earth. But he is 
under disabilities from which he cannot disengage 
himself; he is feeble, slow, and quickly tires. But 
it is observable that these restraints are of just such 



108 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin, 

a character as to set his mind to work ; and mind, 
when once properly directed, soon lays science and 
art under tribute, whereby he finds a remedy for his 
feebleness, and indefinitely multiplies the means for 
subduing nature, and for adding to the conveniences 
and comforts of life. 

Thus the labors and disabilities under which he is 
placed are converted into so many friendly helps 
for the proper development of his better nature ; 
for it is by the constant application and patient per- 
severance made necessary by the demands laid upon 
him that he attains to those habits of sobriety and 
solidity of character without which the most pre- 
cious gifts would only be wasted upon him. In- 
deed, it is by these acquirements, wrought out in 
this toilsome way, that he becomes properly pre- 
pared to act his great part for time and eternity, and 
the better fitted for the religious life, the activities 
and responsibilities of which are so much suspended 
on steadfastness and reliability of character. Idleness 
is as much the bane of piety as of business, and 
slothfulness will as surely clog the progress of the 
one as of the other. 

It is quite a mistaken notion that the legitimate 
engagements of life are anv needful hinderance to 
true religion ; and those seeking to retire from 
earthly pursuits into solitude, supposing thereby to 
better promote the interests of the soul, have sadly 
misapprehended the tenor and spirit of the gospel 
of Christ. 

The mighty works of Jesus and his apostles were 
not done m a corner, but were wrought out in the 



Business and Religion. 109 

open sunshine of heaven and in the presence of the 
multitudes. And when Christ sends forth his dis- 
ciples, it is not into the cloisters and caves of soli- 
tude, but out into real life, with all its cares, toils, 
and perplexities; for it is right there, if anywhere, 
that he would have them manifest the light and 
influence of his holy religion, in counteracting its 
evils, in mitigating its sorrows, and in regulating its 
toils and labors, that those toils and labors may be- 
come what they were designed to be — blessings to 
mankind. , 

Christians are, in a sense, Christ's representatives 
in the world, and are properly looked to as the con- 
servators of society, the light of the world, the salt 
of the earth, the leaven that is to transform the 
whole; and if Christ is to be confessed, it is before 
men; if he is to be honored, it is in the presence of 
the world for which he has died; therefore, the 
intrusted talent is not to be buried; the candle is 
not to be put under a bushel. On the contrary, if the 
Christian has light, he is to let it shine; if he has 
faith, he is to make it manifest; if he has power for 
good, he is to let it be felt: his religion is of social, 
public, world-wide concern, and is to be manifested 
in the length and breadth and height and depth of 
its efficacious virtues. 

Xone has, none can have, a greater interest in the 
present life than the Christian. Xone better than 
he ought to understand its important bearings and 
its great results. "The earth is the Lord's, and the 
fullness thereof;"' and if, in obedience to his will, 
it is to be dressed, its crooked ways straightened, its 



110 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

rough places smoothed, its condition improved, 
and its general welfare subserved, then it is to his 
own chosen children that he has committed the care 
and keeping of so important a trust. None has a 
better right to the good of this life than the Chris- 
tian; for that which is really good is not sinful— 
that which is sinful is only its counterfeit— and 
none may boast of larger privileges than he. He 
has necessities, and they are to be supplied; he has 
tastes, and they are to be gratified; he has enter- 
prises, and they are to be carried out according to 
the economy of nature, as ordained by nature's 
God; and if the Lord give fertile soils, and waving 
harvests, and luscious fruits, and sparkling fount- 
ains, they are for him — the rightful heir of a be- 
neficent Heavenly Father. 

Diligence in business and fervency of spirit con- 
stitute the two important elements of a successful 
life. Business without piety is prone to degenerate 
into covetousness ; but, regulated by the principles 
of piety, those habits of application, patient perse- 
verance, and fixedness of purpose, which the rou- 
tine of business so much establishes, may be hap- 
pily converted to the maintenance of a fervent 
spirit. Thus joining hand in hand, the interests of 
the present life will not encroach upon the superior 
interests of the life to come — temporal good becomes 
the handmaid of eternal good; and while diligence 
in business causes the earth to beam and blossom 
With beauty and gladness, fervency of spirit still 
keeps in view the blessedness of heaven with its yet 
more inviting prospects and transcendent glories. 






Business asd Keligion. Ill 

This view of the subject has the special indorsement 
of Jesus. In speaking of temporal wants, and the 
anxiety of mind they often cause, he says: "Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things 
shall be added unto you ; for your Heavenly Father 
knoweth that you have need of these things. " 

God is the author of all good, and has pointed out 
the ways and means for its attainment, and has 
cordially invited his children to reach forth and 
freely partake of both, whether it be earthly or 
heavenly. God, whether in creation or redemption, 
does every thing on a munificent scale. His salva- 
tion is free, full, and abundant — not barely able to 
save, but abundantly able to save to the uttermost. 
So in nature. He has not limited man to a bare 
supply of bread and water; but after he has 
quenched his thirst, the springing fountains still 
flow on in generous profusion, and the rivers of 
water pass by with ceaseless tide; while the store- 
houses of nature, in undiminishing supplies, furnish 
such a countless variety that one may cull and 
choose, not as necessity may press, but as inclina- 
tion and taste may fancy. 

The world is wide enough to give ample scope to 
its every inhabitant — the store-houses of nature are 
bounteous enough to supply entire humanity to 
satiety; and if diligence in business and fervency 
of spirit held their God-ordained sway in human 
affairs, the abundance of good would suffice to make 
every one contented and happy in his lot. There 
would not be an idler nor a vagabond on the face 
of the earth; nor would envy, fraud, and extortion 



112 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

longer find place to practice their hurtful arts. 
Slothfulness never succeeds in any thing — business 
never prospers where it directs — piety never tri- 
umphs where it leads the devotions. Its victims are 
to be met with in all the spheres of life, and they 
all tell the same tale of bad luck and unsuccessful 
enterprises. The slothful student soon discovers 
that the toilsome drudgery of acquiring an educa- 
tion is better suited to dull minds; and, by depend- 
ing on his wits and keeping up appearances, he will 
find a shorter route to the eminence which others 
have to reach by the usual tedious process; the re- 
sult is to soon find himself left far in the rear. So 
in business. Slothful readily accounts for his ill 
success by the faults and short-comings of others. 
He concludes, any way, that the world owes him a 
living, and if by a little contrivance here, and a 
little sponging there, he can realize the enjoyment 
which he feels is due him, he will uncomplainingly, 
abide in his lot. So in religion. Slothful, since he 
fails to live right, has a very lively hope that he 
will at last "die right," and means to be very hum- 
ble and submissive when the time comes. 

No; Slothful never succeeds. He is a drone, 
whether in Church or State — only a consumer, and 
is content to live by mere sufferance; he is the 
wrong man in the wrong place, in his own way and 
in everybody else's; never comes to time, and when 
he does come is never ready. You need not ask 
where he lives, for in passing by you will see the 
signs lying loose all around; and when you meet 
him abroad, you will know him by his ready knowl- 



Business and Religion. 113 

edge of everybody's business but his own. True, 
he is sometimes good and clever in his way, but it 
is in a way that is of no particular benefit to any 
one. He contrives to live, but it is largely off of 
the earnings of others: and when he comes to die — 
as eventually he must die — it is then that the ma- 
chinery of society quickens its speed as a wheel just 
rid of its clog. In the parable of the talents, it was 
the slothful servant that was cast out as unfit for 
the kingdom of God; and observation and experi- 
ence show his unfitness for the enterprises of earth. 
But we must not adjudge Slothful to be the highest 
type of wickedness in the world. To be blamed he 
certainly is, but he is also to be pitied. He is no 
monster of iniquity who outrages the peace of earth 
and defies the authority of Heaven. Let ns be not 
only just, but lenient toward him. As a man of 
the world, he is ahvaj^s found to be of a social turn ; 
and so far as Christianity is concerned he is more 
than willing to be regarded as friendly to the cause. 
He means nothing particularly bad, nor, indeed, 
any thing particularly good — he simply means 
nothing at all. As an unprofitable servant, he was 
not specially against his Lord and Master, nor was 
he specially for him — all he desired was simply to 
be let alone. He does not deny the divine authority 
of the Bible, not he, but would a thousand times 
rather admit its validity than to put himself to the 
labor of searching into it,, that he might be able to 
give a reason for the hope that is within him. In- 
deed, he sometimes loves to hear certain portions of 
the Scriptures read and expatiated upon, especially 



114 Sermons by A. P. M.cFerrin. 

those parts which tell about boundless grace and 
free salvation. But when it comes to that part 
which says, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
do it with thy might; and work out your own 
souPs salvation with fear and trembling," it is then 
his countenance falls and his hands instinctively 
shrink back into his pockets. Others may, if so 
inclined, 

Fight to win the prize 
And sail through bloody seas; 

but as for himself, he always was a peaceable man. 
Others, animated by a lofty aspiration, may desire 
not only barely to get to heaven, but to attain to an 
abundant entrance, with shouts of victory and songs 
of triumph ; but as for himself, he will be content to 
go slow, by easy stages, picking for the smooth 
places in a quiet and unobserved w r ay, and if on 
reaching the blessed abode he finds the door a little 
ajar, will softly enter in, and, taking a back seat, 
will find it enough to say, 

Forever here my rest shall be. 

One of the main hinderanees to a successful re- 
ligious life is the mistaken notion respecting its 
true nature. There may, indeed, be sore tempta- 
tions and severe trials, causing anguish of spirit, 
that have to be encountered ; but these are not 
chargeable, directly nor indirectly, to Christian- 
ity — their source is to be found only in the ad- 
verse influences which array themselves against it. 
Christ's religion demands nothing beyond the lively 
and healthful energies which God has given to every 
one whose heart desires the realization of its ^reat 



Business and Religion. 115 

salvation; and nothing so readily and effectually 
opens up the way to a cheerful, happy life as serv- 
ing the Lord in a fervent spirit. The devotedly 
faithful servant of the Lord is always a willing and 
cheerful servant; and, surely, the lively hope that 
is set before him is enough to nerve him with an 
unfailing energy, which knows no abatement in 
fervency of spirit. And, yet, we sometimes hear 
of the lukewarm Christian — yea, one who has 
lapsed into a state of coldness. I reckon that a 
cold Christian is a wonderment to the angels, and 
surely enough to shame the face of Christianity, 
and cause poor humanity to weep! 

It is really surprising that the Christian is not 
always fervent in spirit. He has so much to en- 
courage him, so much to be thankful for, that it is 
a wonder that he does not rejoice evermore, and in 
every thing give thanks. He is soon to enter the 
heaven which is just before him: and since his head 
is soon to wear a crown, and his hands to bear the 
palms of victory, and his tongue to lisp the praises 
of glory, it does seem that he should, now and then, 
if only by way of rehearsal, give vent to his emo- 
tions in songs and praises and halleluiahs, in view 
of so grand a consummation. 



A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN. 



f A double-minded, man is unstable in all his ways." James i. 8. 

A DOUBLE-MINDED man, it is said, literally 
signifies a man of two souls. And what adds 
to the strangeness of such a character, making it 
at times so mysterious and incomprehensible, is that 
these two souls are very unlike in many respects. 
They differ much in their desires, preferences, likes, 
and dislikes; and to so great an extent are these 
differences sometimes carried that it is difficult to 
maintain good neighborhood between them. In- 
deed, there is but little harmony in their relations, 
while the positive dissatisfaction, often arising, be- 
comes so great that Double-mind can have little or 
no peace, because of their perpetual disagreements; 
and one of the most perplexing tasks of his life is 
to make reconciliation between them. He has be- 
come so accustomed to these disputes, and has had 
his ingenuity so often taxed in devising ways to 
make up their differences, that he has acquired a 
wonderful expertness in such matters. And, no 
doubt, it is owing to this fact that many have been 
struck with the diplomatic gifts of Double-mind, 
for he is one of the greatest compromisers in the 
world. And hence, rather than have his peace con- 
tinually disturbed, day and night, by the perpetual 
controversies of his two souls, he has studied how 
(116) 



A Double-minded Max. 117 

to arrange some sort of terms between them. It is 
impossible, indeed, to fully satisfy them both, for 
what satisfies one positively dissatisfies the other, 
and he is often found vacillating from the domin- 
ion of the one to the control of the other — now de- 
termining that he will be led by this one, then giv- 
ing place to the sway of the other. 

One of these souls is far the gentler and soberer 
of the two, and is frequently suggesting to him 
considerations of propriety, prudence, and such 
goodness of heart and life as is supposed to insure 
safety and peace in the end; the other is of a far 
different temperament, and clamors loudly for self- 
gratification, and is ever eloquent in urging the 
claims of personal rights, independence of action, 
chivalrous bearing, and dilates on the pleasure of 
one's having every thing to his own liking, of mak- 
ing life luxuriant, and of attaining the glory that 
wins its way high over the heads of all rivals or op- 
posers. The latter is evidently Double-mind's pet, 
though, in truth, he has the greater respect for its 
more serious and circumspect confrere. In fact, he 
has found out long as:o that his erentler soul is by 
far the safer guide, yet its competitor gives him a 
wider scope — is not forever finding fault with him, 
but, on the contrary, always makes him feel better 
pleased with himself, at least while the excitement 
is up. 

His more considerate soul, when he listens to it, 
seems onlv intent on suo^estino; serious concerns 
— intimates to him that matters are not, upon the 
whole, going near so well as they seem, and that in 



118 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix* 

the end there will be trouble, if some of his plans 
and operations are not greatly modified: while the 
sober, serious air that seems to prompt such admo- 
nitions sometimes so impresses Double-mind that 
he pauses, sets about shifting his arrangements, 
which makes him at times appear to be undoing 
what, but a little while before, he was struggling 
hard to accomplish, It is in retirement mostly, 
silent and alone, that these influences and persua- 
sive suggestions the more deeply impress him; but 
when he gets out into the current of every-day af- 
fairs, mingles in the excitements and associations 
incident thereto, it is then that his other soul sees 
its time and takes the opportunity to dissipate the 
recent serious impressions, and generally finds it no 
difficult task to regain the ascendency and wield the 
scepter in Double-mind's operations, which it great- 
ly delights to do. It can readily displace the seri- 
ous impressions of the lonely hours by numerous 
lively and happy conceits. And Double-mind soon 
feels fully persuaded that the true theory, after all, 
is, that the first great rule of life is for every one to 
look out for himself; that the world owes him a 
living; that it is not worth while to be too nice 
about small matters, and that, all in all. he is far 
better than a great many others, though they may 
seem to be indorsed by society: that he does as 
well, in the long run, by others as others do by him, 
and if some crooked things should here and there 
show themselves in the current account, he can 
make it up at some convenient time, by some extra 
good things by way of offset . 



A Double-minded Man. 119 

In his earlier career, Double-mind was never very 
Ions: in the same mood. At times he seemed satis- 
fied and joyous; at others, dissatisfied with himself 
and with every thing else. 

It has already been said that he is one of the great- 
est compromisers in the world; but how to keep on 
fair terms with his two souls, taxed his ingenuity to 
the utmost. He wished to hold to the one, and yet 
not to despise the other: to utterly disinherit the 
one, he felt he could not; and in the case of the 
other, that he must not. So, after surveying the 
subject in all the lights and shades of desire, inter- 
est, policy, conscience, and so forth, he determined 
to pursue such a course as to keep on reasonably fair 
terms with both. A compromise must be effected — 
each must learn to give and take a little. And as 
all the great enterprises appertaining to human af- 
fairs must have their appropriate divisions and sub- 
divisions as a means of their more ready and suc- 
cessful termination, so each must have its appropri- 
ate sphere assigned it, and learn therein to be con- 
tent, without intruding on the domains of each other. 
The one must be gratified by giving a degree of at- 
tention, now and then, to those serious matters for 
which it has a more peculiar turn, but not to an 
extent to hamper the more diffusive genius of its 
restless compeer. 

Double -mind is not a great stickler any way. 
With him, expediency is about as good as principle. 
Man was made to be happy, therefore let him get 
all the happiness he can here and hereafter too; for 
cannot the world be delightful, and heaven be so 



120 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

too? And how can a love for this world interfere 
with a proper respect for religion? And why should 
indulgence and self-gratification here be a hinder- 
anee to happiness hereafter? Let each have his 
portion in due season, and especially make the most 
of the present, for that is a surety. 

Pleased with these happy conceptions, he assigned 
to his more serious soul all matters appertaining to 
religious subjects, Sabbath affairs, and Church con- 
cerns; and to its more active and enterprising com- 
peer, the more immediate interests of trade and 
traffic: and while with the latter he shall win his 
way through the world, the former will keep an eye 
to it that heaven shall not be entirely lost. 

And all this will serve to explain several things 
which a good many people could not so well under- 
stand, for it is not everybody that knows these pe- 
culiar troubles of Double-mind, and hence he is 
somewhat of a mystery to many. For instance: it 
is one of the most difficult things imaginable to tell 
on which side he is, on any question; for when one 
finds out for certain that he is on this side, it is only 
to be surprised to find him on the other. Another 
thing: when seen out in the midst of the moving 
world, during the six business days of the week, it 
would scarcely occur to one what a sober, Christian 
man he is. In the cut-and-come of trade, none is 
his superior; nor is he at all afraid to venture where 
circumspect natures would shrink back; nor does he 
suffer himself to be hampered by the tame sugges- 
tions of inexpediency. But never mind — Sunday is 
coming, and you will see him at church. And now 



A Double-minded Max. 121 

appearances are admirably improved — the skies 
are so much brighter, the sunshine so much more 
cheerful, there is so much of propriety, of gravity, 
of every thing commendable, that, after all, one is 
almost compelled to set it down as all right. 

This contrariety of character has so perplexed 
some observers that they have scarcely known what 
to think. But once into the secret, and all is easily 
explained; all depends upon which soul it is that 
has him in lead. 

There is still another perplexity that has arisen 
in the minds of some of his intimate acquaintances, 
for they have never been able to fully satisfy them- 
selves whether Double-mind was a very happy or a 
very unhappy man. When his trading operations 
flourish, when times with him are flush, when pros- 
perity flows in with swelling tide, then he seems to 
be the happiest of mortals; content with the pres- 
ent, he is troubled with no apprehensions of the 
future. But when times take a turn, and the tide 
changes, his anxieties and distresses lead him to 
the verge of despair. It is then that his ears are 
set to hear nothing but evil tidings. If drought 
prevail, and the harvest be threatened, Starvation, 
with his withered skin and dry bones, haunts his 
vision by day and by night; he instantly loses all 
heart for those things for which just before he had 
an undivided heart, and becomes disgusted with 
what, but a little while ago, intoxicated him with 
delight; so that the changes of the moon cannot 
keep up with the changes of his likes and his dis- 
likes, his hopes arid his fears. 



122 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

And, in truth, it is no wonder that he appears to 
be so much of a mystery that his most intimate 
acquaintances cannot understand him, for Double- 
mind is ofttimes a puzzle to himself, and is some- 
times in painful doubt of what he really is or is not. 
It is true that every man is to himself, more or less, 
a strange compound, but most people are supposed 
to have some settled convictions, or at least to so far 
take some things for granted as to enable them, in 
a general way, to shape their course; but Double- 
mind is a navigator without a compass, and when- 
ever a cloud hides the face of the sun, he straight- 
way imagines himself to be in an already sinking 
condition. 

His better soul generally takes advantage of such 
seasons of gloom to get a fairer hearing than is gen- 
erally accorded, and its protestations at such times 
often press him sorely, sometimes resulting in vows 
and resolves, on his part, to a course more in har- 
mony with reason and consistency, which he may 
attempt in some degree to carry out, unless his other 
soul shall hurry him on in another direction, as is 
very likely to be the case. 

The truth is, Double-mind has always shunned 
the real difficulty in his way. The actual state of 
the case is, he has too many irons in the fire — at 
least too many by one. He is trying the experiment 
of serving God and Mammon at the same time. He 
desires to be good as a means of escaping danger, 
but prefers the opposite as a means of self-gratifica- 
tion. How to do this is a discovery that has been 
sought as ardently as the perpetual motion, and 



A Double-minded Man. 123 

with like success. A soul striving to enter in at 
the strait gate is scarcely likely to succeed, with an 
opponent in full strength encouraged to pull in the 
other direction. 

If Double-mind ever finds the true remedy for his 
difficulties, it will be in "putting off" this opposing 
soul of his, which, in all its characteristics, much 
resembles what a great philosopher described as the 
" old man," which he adjudged as deserving to be cru- 
cified as the only surety for peace and. quietude. 



DEMANDING A SIGN. 



"Master, we would see a sign from tliee." Matthew xii. 38. 

SUCH was the demand made of Jesus by his ever- 
watchful opponents, the scribes and Pharisees, 
Jesus had been engaged in teaching and healing; 
and there was one brought unto him who was blind 
and dumb and possessed of a devil, and he straight- 
way released him from the distresses of his threefold 
malady. Such an exhibition of divine power was 
well calculated to carry conviction to the minds of 
the multitude which beheld it that this was indeed 
the long- promised Messiah: but the scribes and 
Pharisees interposed the plea that the miracle had 
been wrought by Satanic agency. Our Lord, in a 
few words, showed the absurdity of their plea, inas- 
much as Satan would scarcely be employed in sub- 
verting his own power and destroying his own 
kingdom; for Satan was too shrewd not to under- 
stand that a house thus divided against itself must 
fall. It would seem that a pause here ensued, dur- 
ing which it is likely the multitude were engaged 
in discussing the miracle which they had just wit- 
nessed. Then came the scribes and Pharisees, say- 
ing, " Master, we would see a sign from thee; " or. 
rather, another sign of a different character from 
those he had been manifesting throughout the 
coasts of Israel. The sign which they now wanted, 
(VIA) 



Demanding a Sign. 125 

as it appears, was "a sign from heaven" — some cu- 
rious and wonderful appearance in the sky. The 
demand was not complied with. And it is note- 
worthy that Jesus never wrought a miracle simply 
to show that he had the power to do so; never to 
gratify a vain and idle curiosity; never to satisfy 
the whims and caprices of opposers. 

Jesus did not tell them that no "sign from 
heaven" would be given; on the contrary, he plain- 
ly indicated that such a sign, in due time, should 
be given, but no such sign as they vainly demand- 
ed. Indeed, it would probably have been impos- 
sible to give any sign which would have satisfied 
them; for there is nothing more glaring than the 
unreasonable, and ofttimes absurd, demands made 
by the opposers of Christianity — demands which, in 
the nature of the case, cannot be complied with. 
Such were the opposers whom Jesus met at every 
turn and corner, and the line of their unbroken suc- 
cession continues to this day. 

Had these scribes and Pharisees really desired 
to learn the truth, with a sincere purpose to em- 
brace it and abide by it, then their demand would 
have appeared in a very different light; for Chris- 
tianity is ever open to the most searching criticism, 
and invites the most scrutinizing investigation. 
The standing invitation of Heaven to the children 
of men is, "Come and let us reason together," while 
the sincere inquirer after eternal life is encouraged 
never to rest satisfied till he is enabled to give a 
reason for the hope that is in him. But no such 
motive influenced these opposers of Jesus. It does 



126 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

not appear that they denied the reality of mira- 
cles, but affirmed that they had been wrought by 
Satanic agency. But the opponents of Christianity, 
in our day, go far beyond this; they not only repu- 
diate all miracles, but even the possibility of them. 
Hence their often unreasonable demands — demands 
with which it is morally and metaphysically im- 
possible to comply. For the processes by which 
some truths are arrived at will not, cannot avail 
for the ascertainment of other truths of a wholly 
different character. Some truths rest wholly on the 
basis of consciousness — such as those pertaining to 
mental science. Other truths can be arrived at only 
by analysis and experiment — such as those pertain- 
ing to chemical science. So, it is solely by mathe- 
matical processes that we can arrive at the solution 
of mathematical problems. And if it would be ab- 
surd to attempt the demonstration of a mathemat- 
ical problem by data of a strictly moral and re- 
ligious character, surely it would be no less absurd 
to demand the solution of religious problems in any 
way analogous to that in which mathematical prob- 
lems are solved. The utter absurdity of such a de- 
mand is readily seen in its utter impossibility. My 
friend who lives next door is a good mathematician, 
and he is also a good neighbor; but the proofs by 
which he shows himself to be the former have no 
possible relation to those by which he shows him- 
self to be the latter. 

Christianity points out its own processes by which 
assured conclusions may be reached respecting the 
validity of its claims and the efficacy of its saving 



Demanding a Bigjt. 127 

. and surely it ia idle t 

jek to substitute others which cam 

- :-" th ] | se . And I 
dout : just here is the mistake made by a 

few rned ones of these lays. Successful 

in their noble and praisew rthy effi rts I i the dil- 
ution of na: r seek U stej : ver 
the domains of revealed religion, and, by pro- 
eculiar to natural science, challenge the va- 
lidity of its claims. In the nature of tl . all 
such attempts end only in failure. 

Nor need this class of scientists boast, by way of 

invidious distinction, that _ leal only in ft \. 

taking nothing on trust; for neither is Christianity 

..ken on : list — in the popul tation 

:: that term — than are the conclusions of natu 

>r those pertaining to any other sphere : : 

human I dge inviting investigation. On the 

trary, th i i ul :- a ristiane tc work by is. 

to •• prove all things, an I h I '. fast to that which is 

good,''" and only to that which is good, though "an 

angel from heaven" preach the trary. Such is 

the .rule by which Christians work, and scientists 

not show that they work by a better or safer one. 

We are now the better prepared, I trust, for the 

^deration of : few j lints suggested by the text 

the circumstances which gave rise to it. An i 

here I will Bay that the Bible loes largely admit the 

idea :: the miraculous. Of course it does: because 

it prefesse& tc teach us a :.: religion; and all 

k ' religi : n, from first to last, necee i ests 

: - is of ^ : : i 



128 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Those signs and wonders peculiar to the apostolic 
age, and to some extent of the prophetic age which 
preceded — such as the gifts of healing, speaking in 
unknown tongues, etc. — had their special uses, and, 
as it would seem, were limited thereunto. These 
special uses are not difficult to discover; for when 
a religion professes to base its claims on the author- 
ity of revelation, one of the most natural inquiries 
in the world will be, How are we to know that 
which professes to be a revelation to be surely such? 
If it be a revelation, it is directly of God, and there- 
fore supernatural, and must be identified as such 
by attestations of a supernatural character. These 
signs and wonders, therefore, were the credentials 
of God's messenger who came with a " Thus saith 
the Lord/ 5 Thus the volume of revelation was 
added to, from age to age, as the progress of the 
ages demanded, till the times of Jesus and his apos- 
tles^ — preeminently the age of signs and wonders — 
when the whole of the New Testament was added, 
and which completed the volume of revelation ; and 
there being no further revelations to be made, these 
signs and wonders — technically called miracles — 
legitimately ceased, the occasion requiring them no 
longer existing. 

Right here let us make no mistake in supposing 
our holy religion to be one iota less supernatural, 
less directly of God, than in times past. The signs 
and wonders of the ages agone were certain marvel- 
ous manifestations to subserve special purposes; and 
though they have ceased, yet it is rather in the way 
of being superseded by others no less marvelous, as 



Demanding a Sign. 129 

the permanent and abiding heritage of God's people 
for all time to come. Our Christianity, in its essen- 
tial nature, remains precisely the same that it ever 
was — supernatural in its origin, supernatural in its 
saving power, and not a jot or tittle less now than 
on the day of Pentecost. One of the last earthly 
utterances of Jesus seems to point specially in this 
direction: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
believeth on me, the works I do shall he do also; 
and greater works than these shall he do; because I 
go unto my Father." And, as the sequel proved, 
it was not till after his resurrection and ascension, 
and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, that there 
began those marvelous displays of the saving power 
of his gospel, going forth conquering and to con- 
quer, whereby unnumbered millions of souls have 
been transformed from nature to grace, and which, 
with an ever-deepening and ever-widening influ- 
ence, holds out hopeful promise of the not far-off 
subjugation of the entire earth. 

What remains to us is of far greater value than 
that which has ceased to be. The Apostle Paul 
gives us his testimony on this point. Speaking of 
the Church in his times, he says: "God hath set in 
the Church some apostles; others, prophets, teachers, 
miracles, healings, helps, governments, diversities 
of tongues." He commends all these gifts as of 
high estimation. Nevertheless, he adds: "I show 
you a more excellent way; for these diversities of 
gifts shall cease, shall fail, shall vanish away; but 
now abideth, as the permanent heritage of the 
Church, that which is more excellent — faith, hope, 
9 



130 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

and charity." Faith, that wonderful and mysteri- 
ous resource of human power within the reach of 
the humblest Christian, whereby he may deny self, 
resist evil, overcome the world, and, wonderful to 
say, prevail with God; hope, which is an anchor 
sure and steadfast, anchoring to that within the vail, 
uniting, fastening the trusting sonl to the very 
throne of the Eternal; charity, that love that im- 
bues the soul of the believer with the mind of Christ, 
the spirit of Christ, by which he becomes a partaker 
of the divine nature, and so identified with Christ 
as to be with him, and in him, and like him. To 
open the eyes of the blind, to cleanse the leper, to 
speak in unknown tongues, was indeed wonderful; 
but the power of the gospel, as preached to-day, 
proposes that which is more wonderful. It proposes 
to make a saint out of a sinner, to evolve light out 
darkness, order out of chaos, good out of evil, health 
out of sickness, life out of death. A sinner saved 
by grace, born of the Spirit from above, created 
anew in Christ Jesus, imbued with a conscious sense 
of Christ in the heart, the hope of glory, is entitled 
to a first place in the rank of miracles of any age or 
clime. 

After all, the question of gravest import, the 
question with which we this hour stand face to face, 
is, What is the nature of that Christianity with 
which we have to do — that Christianity which we 
preach and in which we profess to believe? Is it 
less marvelous in our eyes than it seemed to them 
who witnessed its introduction? Is it less super- 
natural, less the power of God unto salvation, now 



Demanding a Sign. 181 

than when preached by Peter and John and Paul? 
These considerations suggest the vital point; for if 
Christianity be divested of its supernaturalism, then 
the entirety of revealed religion is surrendered, 
leaving nothing but the dry and unpalatable repast 
of natural religion, if indeed there be any such. 

We cannot exclude God from the world which he 
has made; even heathenism, in its utmost wretched- 
ness, cannot do that; for creation itself legitimately 
proclaims a Creator. But the conceptions w T e have 
of the Christ who is proclaimed as Saviour are 
wholly of the pronounced declarations of what is 
claimed to be revelation. His birth, his resurrec- 
tion, and ascension are professedly supernatural. 
A risen and ascended Christ is the only Christ rec- 
ognized by the gospel; and whoever can or does 
believe in such a Christ surely need not trouble 
himself about those lesser wonders swallowed up 
by this, the greatest of all wonders. The verity of 
a risen and ascended Christ is the pivot on which 
all else turns: that being true, we have all the truth 
we need; that being a myth, all the rest is myth. 
So, the apostles themselves stake the whole issue. 
Plainly, this is the prime claim of Christianity; for 
if it does not give me life, then there is nothing 
else that can be of special value. No one can either 
love or trust in a dead Saviour. If his religion did 
not cause him to live, how can it cause others to 
live? But a risen and ascended Christ lives. Hav- 
ing conquered death by passing through it, he 
thereby shows that he has life in himself, and can 
cause others to live, even all, whomsoever he will; 



132 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

thus the last barrier is removed, and the humble 
soul reposes on him with implicit trust and su- 
premest love. The Christ of revealed religion is 
therefore a living Christ, who " manifests himself," 
unto those that love him, as consciously present — 
"ye in me and I in you," as he expresses it in one 
of his last earthly promises; and surely such a 
manifested presence is in perfect harmony with the 
idea of a risen Saviour. This, then, is the one fact 
of revealed religion by which all else stands or falls. 
But how shall assurance on this point be attained 
unto? The historical account of his resurrection is 
as clear and consistent with itself as is the history 
of Julius Caesar or other histories of that era. I 
know that the honest and concerned inquirer after 
eternal life may answer that the cases are by no 
means parallel, inasmuch as Caesar died, and re- 
mains dead, according to the universal law imposed 
on all mankind; while the resurrection of Jesus 
presents the solitary exception to the universal rule. 
Yes, that is true; but it was as necessary that Jesus 
should rise as a Saviour as that Caesar should die as 
a man. The only alternative is a world without a 
Saviour. He may further say that whether the 
historical account we have of Caesar be wholly true 
or wholly false, whether he ever or never lived, is a 
matter that does not seriously concern his happi- 
ness or welfare; but whether Jesus be the living, 
present Saviour is the one fact on which all hope 
pertaining to the shadowy, mysterious future de- 
pends — the only possible opening which admits 
one ray of light into the unseen region which lies 



Demanding a Sign. 133 

out just beyond us. Xay, he urges with vehement 
concern that if this be truth he craves to know it 
with a conscious assurance which no history, merely 
in the oldness of the letter, can possibly give. And 
likely the thought may be suggested to his mind 
that the human element is necessarily connected 
with all history; and that this, concerning the res- 
urrection of Jesus, has descended through the ages 
of the ever-recurring revolutions and convulsions 
which attend human affairs, the subject of various 
translations and innumerable transcribings. Were 
those whose hands have manipulated this historical 
account wise? and if wise, were they honest, leaving 
no well-founded apprehensions for the machinations 
of the fraudulent or the blunders of the ignorant? 
Such — whether reasonably or unreasonably we need 
not here stop to inquire — might be the honest ques- 
tionings of the sincere seeker after the truth as it is 
is Jesus ; and it is the glory of our Christianity that 
the yearnings of a troubled heart may be so satisfied 
on all points that there shall be no more place for 
painful misgivings. 

Here let us recur to the fact that when the scribes 
and Pharisees demand of Jesus a sign "from heav- 
en" — that is, some sign of a different character from 
those which they were continually witnessing — he 
did indicate to them that one, and only one such, 
should be given: the sign of the Prophet Jonas, a 
sign pertaining to his resurrection. And Peter on 
the clay of Pentecost, refers to the Holy Ghost then 
" shed forth" as the sign and proof of the resurrec- 
tion and ascension of Jesus. Is not this the sign of 



134 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

the Prophet Jonas, which he had said should be 
given? and of the coming of which Jesus assured 
his sorrowing disciples just before he left the world? 
the ^Comforter which is the Holy Ghost" — the 
sign which was to " abide forever/' 7 and whereby 
every seeker of his salvation, for all the ages to 
come, might attain unto a conscious fact that the 
Christ in whom he trusts is verily "he who was 
dead but is alive for evermore?"' 

Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving the 
world to go unto his Father, and names the coming 
of the "'Comforter,'' whom he would send, as the 
sign and token of this fact, If, said he, I go not 
away to the Father, the Comforter will not come; 
but "now I have told you before it come to pass, 
that when it is come to pass ye might believe." 
He — the Comforter — "shall receive of mine, and 
shall shew it unto you." Shall show what? Evi- 
dently that which can be shown in no other way; 
a verification which nothing but super naturalism 
can bestow. 

The truth as it is in Jesus therefore resolves it- 
self into a simple ascertainable fact: has the Com- 
forter come? 

Millions of witnesses, and among them many of 
the wisest and soberest specimens of humanity, have 
testified in health, in sickness, living and dyiug, that 
the Comforter has come; by which his resurrection 
and ascension become a personal, assured fact; by 
which the believer may say for himself, "I know 
that my Redeemer lives;" for whosoever is born of 
God hath the witness — of this fact — within himself. 



Demanding a Sign. 135 

But, perhaps, one may say, "Demonstrate to me that 
the Comforter has come, and I will yield the whole 
controversy." I plainly answer, I cannot. This 
truth belongs to that class known as conscious 
truths, and conscious truths cannot be demon- 
strated. Self-existence is a conscious truth; but 
the fact of self-existence cannot be demonstrated, 
because all proofs, or attempted proofs, would be 
weak and puerile as compared with the conscious 
fact itself. That the Comforter has come can, there- 
fore, be only known as a matter of consciousness. 
To this one might say, " Then let me know it as a 
matter of consciousness." To this I reply that it is 
a God-given truth ; and, on the very sound principle 
that one may do with his own as he pleases, he has 
annexed certain terms and conditions to its bestow- 
al, albeit of the most reasonable and honorable 
character. The conditions are: Seek, and you shall 
find; ask, and you shall receive. And he that asks 
does receive; he that seeks does find. This is the 
unfailing rule. And he who will not comply with 
these reasonable and every way honorable condi- 
tions does not sufficiently desire this knowledge, 
even to rightly appreciate it. It is proper, how- 
ever, to say that these terms — seek and ask — are to 
be construed in their strictest and highest import. 
No mere experiment or half-hearted overture will 
avail. Honorable men, in their associations, will 
utterly repudiate all merely half-hearted overtures. 
So will God. But he graciously waits the applica- 
tion of him who seeks and asks with all the heart; 
in which case failure becomes impossible. 



136 Sermons by A. P. McFehrin. 

And now, in conclusion, I would say that it seems 
to me to be utterly futile to attempt to prove the 
saving power of Christ's religion by processes pe- 
culiar to the wisdom of this world; and that it is 
a serious mistake on the part of Christians when 
they undertake to do so. Christianity needs no 
such appliances, and God has repudiated them. 
Revelation appeals to its own peculiar testimony, 
and the truth as it is in Jesus wins its way by its 
own inherent power. And thus it is that God oft- 
times chooses the "base things of the world," "the 
tilings that are despised," and "the things that are 
not," to confound the mighty. And why? that the 
power may be known to be of God, and not of men ; 
that no flesh should glory in his presence. 

I am aware of the fact that there are many good 
people who are anxiously inquiring what shall be 
done to stay the tide of skepticism and infidelity 
which, with widening and swelling sweep, threat- 
ens to bear away every thing before it. Far more 
refined and fascinating than the infidelity of a hun- 
dred' years ago, yet it is, if possible, more boastful 
and self-assured. I notice that one recently writing 
on the subject, evincing no, little concern for the 
safety of Christianity, proposes the plan of the es- 
tablishment of a great daily religious paper to coun- 
teract the deleterious influence of the secular press, 
and thus, by meeting argument with argument, an- 
swering logic with logic, and arraying wit and wis- 
dom against wit and wisdom, conquer the deadly 
foe with his own weapons. Well, Simon Peter — 
good soul — once proposed a measure somewhat cor- 



Demanding a Sign. 137 

responding to this. When the rabble came out to 
arrest Jesus, armed with staves, bludgeons, and 
other weapons, Peter promptly decided to meet 
them in their own way; and since weapons were 
the chosen mode, then with weapons let it be, and, 
drawing his sword, he came very nearly to cleaving 
the skull of his victim. But Jesus, grieved with 
his conduct, commanded him to put up his sword; 
and the last healing act of the blessed Jesus was in 
restoring the amputated ear which the stroke of 
Peter's sword had severed, thus correcting the mis- 
take of his ardent but misguided follower. 

There was much great and good service in store 
for Peter, but he was not as yet ready for it. He 
must wait till he shall be endued with power from 
on high. It was then that lie threw aside his old 
sword with its rusty scabbard, and there was given 
him a weapon of directly the opposite kind — the 
sword of the Spirit. And when Peter began to 
wield it, he was astonished and delighted to find 
that at every thrust it cut to the heart — a weapon 
which only kills to make alive. Peter could then 
understand, as never before, the declaration of the 
old prophecies, saying, "Not by might, nor by pow- 
er, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." 

And is it so, in this the latter part of the nine- 
teeth century, in view of all that God has done, is 
still doing, and promises to do, that Christians will 
so far aggrieve Heaven as now to pause and, look- 
ing into each other's face with fallen countenance, 
begin to ask with bated breath, "And what shall we 
do to stay the swelling, threatening tide of the infi- 



138 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

delity of the times?" What shall we do, indeed? 
Why, just follow the plain and simple directions of 
our Lord and Master — namely, this: "Go ye into 
all the world " — yes, into all the world, though that 
world be brimful and running over with rankest in- 
fidelity and foulest iniquities. "Go, and as you go, 
preach; and when you preach, preach the Word; 
and as for the rest, leave all that to me; for all 
power in heaven and earth is given to me, and lo, I 
am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 
Endued with power from on high! That is the 
only power with which God proposes to subjugate 
the world. And when the Church of Christ is fully 
endued with that power, infidelity will turn away 
its face and quietly withdraw from the contest. 
The humblest timid Christian, when filled with the 
might and presence of the Comforter, feels that he 
can literally 

Smile at Satan's rage 
And face a frowning world. 



UP WITH THE TIMES, 



" Give attendance to reading."' 1 Timothy iv. 13. 

"Avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science 
falsely so called.'' 1 Timothy vi. 20. 

" Him that is weak in faith receive ye, but not to doubtful dispu- 
tations.'' Romans xiv. 1. 

I HAVE recently read four new books on scien- 
tific topics, written in a pleasing and popular 
style. While they abound with interest and much 
valuable information, it is noticeable that they in a 
great measure ignore the authority of a revealed 
religion. Revelation and those whose faith is 
founded upon it, if referred to at all, are, by impli- 
cation, if not in direct terms, seemingly regarded as 
hiuderances to the progress of free thought and the 
rapid development of the interesting and ofttimes 
startling revealments of science. And the same is 
true of a large number of works which are being 
rapidly multiplied. 

Philosophy, "falsely so called," has from of old 
often shown an adverse bearing toward revealed re- 
ligion; but never so much as at the present time 
have the physical sciences — the revealments made 
by the great system of nature — been so sought to 
be arrayed as an unfriendly witness to the teach- 
ings of revelation. 

These untoward manifestations can never avail 

(139) 



140 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

any thing in behalf of those who make them. There 
is no antagonism between revealed religion and the 
revealments of science; and those who suppose they 
have found it only prove that they have yet much 
to learn, either of the one or the other, and most 
likely of both. Abating this seeming and unnatu- 
ral unfriendliness to religion, it is a matter of con- 
gratulation that so many works are appearing, illus- 
trative of th& great teachings of natural science. 
Next to the contemplation of God, as displayed in 
the manifestations of his grace, there is no study so 
ennobling as that of his works. Every new develop- 
ment which science brings forth, pertaining to his 
universe, enlarges our conceptions of the wisdom 
and glory of the Creator. 

Our age has good reason to boast of substantial 
progress in this direction. As one of the legiti- 
mate results of this advancement in knowledge, old 
theories, in many instances, have become exploded. 
Formerly received systems have had to be revised, 
their errors corrected and remodeled, according to 
the new and later developments which investiga- 
tion has brought forth, and thus inviting us to still 
wider fields of thought, and onward to still grander 
developments. 

Thus, the sciences of geology, astronomy, chem- 
istry, physiology, etc., have been so expanded as 
not only to enlarge the sphere of thought, but the 
further benefits are realized in the improved sys- 
tems of husbandry, mechanism, l^giene, and the 
various arts; thus largely contributing to the phys- 
ical and social well-being of the world. 



Up With the Times. 141 

These signs of progress are surely not more pleas- 
ing to any than to the intelligent and thoughtful 
Christian, since his interests in these regards are in- 
ferior to none, nor are the spheres of science less in- 
viting to him than others; but, on the contrary, no 
one is more willing to contribute his share to promote 
the general advancement, nor are his achievements in 
science less marked, less brilliant than those of oth- 
ers; and yet, strangely, the impression is sought to 
be made that Christianity is to be understood as 
being, in some way, adverse to the achievements of 
science. The old story of Galileo's persecutions, 
with that of other similar cases, is again and again 
reproduced in a manner to imply reproach to the 
Christian cause. It seems to be overlooked that 
much is set down to the account of Christianity 
which is wholly foreign to it, and that Christianity 
is by no means chargeable with the follies and 
crimes of those who, without the semblance of 
authority or legitimate claim, have presumed to act 
in its name. It is the fate of Christianity to be it- 
self the object of persecution ; but a persecutor, 
never; and if ignorance is ever the mother of devo- 
tion, it is not the devotion which it inspires; it is 
the wolves in sheep's clothing which do the real 
hurt, though it is the genuine flock that is often 
sought to be made the victims. 

Another implication of the unfriendliness of 
Christianity to the progress of science is that while 
the various departments of learning are being en- 
larged on every side, and the various sciences are 
being remodeled and improved, as warranted by new 



142 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

and unquestioned facts, the old systems of theology 
stand stolid, repudiating all modifications to adapt 
them to the advanced condition of society and the 
improved views and tastes of the age. As the ob- 
ject of our incpairies should be a clearer apprehen- 
sion of the truth, it may be worth while to seriously 
consider whether there is not some room for com- 
plaint in this direction. 

Of course it is understood that any inquiries on 
this point have no reference to revelation itself, but to 
those systems of theology professedly founded upon 
it. The Bible is God's great gift to the world for 
its every age, and for its every stage of progress, 
from the lowest to the highest; while systems of 
theology, on the contrary, are the works of men; 
and though they in a large measure bear honor- 
able testimony to the industry, piety, and wisdom 
of those who have sincerely and lovingly contrib- 
uted their energies for what they deemed the good 
of humanity, nevertheless bear the stamp of imper- 
fection, and accordingly from time to time need 
such a process of pruning and eliminating as expe- 
rience and progressive thought may have made ap- 
parent. 

It is certainly clear that many of these prevailing 
systems are encumbered with a vast surplusage, 
which can prove only as so much dead weight. 
Dogmas which in their nature are obscure, and 
whose utility is difficult to discern, cannot possess 
any intrinsic value. That which passes for ortho- 
doxy is really worthless, if it be so occult as to have 
no appreciable effect in readily making the masses 



Up With the Times. 143 

of mankind wiser and better therefor. And yet how 
vast an amount of such useless lumber has been 
borne as a heavy burden on the shoulders, in the 
name of that gospel which comes as a deliverer — as 
the truth to make us free indeed! The endless and 
useless controversies engendered thereby prove a 
positive hinderanee to the spread of the simple gos- 
pel of peace. If the "Five Points,*'' the "Thirty- 
nine Articles," the Deliverances of Synods, and the 
ponderous Creeds of Councils were irrecoverably 
swept from the world, wherein would there be any 
substantial loss thereby? A well-indorsed creed 
may be, indeed, a matter of great satisfaction; but, 
after all, it is in itself no evidence of a pure heart; 
nor does the most unimpeachable orthodoxy im- 
ply the possession of that " wisdom which is from 
above. " 

It may be safely assumed that there is much set 
down to the account of orthodoxy, as commonly 
reckoned to constitute its essential features, which 
is of no possible concern to the serious inquirer after 
the way of eternal life. 

The interminable controversies concerning fore- 
knowledge, election and reprobation, apostolic succession, 
the number and nature of the sacraments* with much 
else of like character, which enter largely into the 
warp and woof of the prevailing theologies, have 
engaged the energies of mighty intellects, multiplied 
ponderous volumes beyond computation, and from 
age to age elicited the feverish anxiety of grave 
councils; --and, after all, with what conceivable good 
results? The minds of the religious world are as 



144 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

wide apart on the endless questions engendered there- 
by as ever, while not a solitary sinner has ever been 
converted from the error of his way by the various 
fortunes which have attended these continued strug- 
gles; and for the very sufficient reason that they 
have no material connection with the matter of per- 
sonal salvation. Christian integrity has no vital 
relation to them, since Christians of unimpeachable 
piety are no more agreed among themselves on these 
subjects than others. And it is observable that 
when we turn aside to consult the New Testament 
alone, to solve the anxious doubts engendered by the 
controversies which they have originated, we are 
faced with the startling fact of the almost total ab- 
sence of any thing that can be construed as even 
relating to them. Indeed, there is scarcely a shadow 
of reason for believing that any of these subjects, 
in the shape in which they have agitated the re- 
ligious world, ever entered into the mind, even re- 
motely, of any New Testament writer. The bare 
suggestion to the mind of the sacred penman that 
he was in any way furnishing such discordant 
material to distract and divide the Church in after 
times would doubtless have shaded his soul with 
sorrow and astonishment. They are theoretical 
rather than practical, and in their nature obscure 
and difficult of solution; and a religion of which 
they constitute any necessary part would be whol- 
ly unsuited to our hapless race, inasmuch as the 
masses of mankind would be hopelessly shut out 
from the full participation of its benefits; for it is 
only the few that have time or capacity or taste 



Up With the Times. 145 

to attain to even an appreciable interest in such a 
religion. 

Now, I would not be understood as intimating 
that the subjects aforenamed, and others of a kin- 
dred character which enter so largely into the the- 
ologies of the age, are devoid of all interest, or 
are unworthy of consideration. On the contrary, 
thej T are interesting to speculative minds, and so far 
as they afford interest as matters of speculation, are 
as such unobjectionable; but when such predomi- 
nance is given them that they are proclaimed as 
entering into our belief — a belief that is understood 
to be the basis of our Christian hope — it is then they 
do become objectionable, by mixing the simple and 
incomplex faith of the gospel of peace with such en- 
tangling alliances. Besides, it is obvious that it is 
the place they occupy in the various Church creeds 
which gives them their chief importance; and they 
are adhered to and defended, whether comprehensi- 
ble or otherwise, simply because of such a promi- 
nence being given them. If left to occupy their 
proper place as matters of speculation, matters of 
mere opinion, in no way affecting the personal re- 
lation of Church -membership, then they would 
cease of themselves to be causes of division, with- 
out impairing any intrinsic interest which they may 
really possess. If they must needs have a place, 
let it be out on the wide range of the public com- 
mons, unhedged, unfenced, unlabeled, to designate 
them as the peculiar and exclusive property of any 
one in particular; disallowing them to enthrone 
themselves in the pulpit to furnish material for 
10 



146 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

doubtful disputations, to the exclusion of the plain 
teachings of the Master, beyond the boundaries of 
which no one has a right to go, in his name. 

It was unfortunate that the reformation of the 
sixteenth century, in its great and good-begun work, 
was robbed of much of its fruits by the incum- 
brance of the simpler and elementary truths of the 
gospel, by which it had so successfully won its way, 
with the mere speculative theologies to which the 
times gave rise. A similar misfortune befell Meth- 
odism in the divisions which separated the Wesleys 
from the "Whitefields. The Church of England 
compromised its efficiency in its endeavors to retain, 
too largely, the features of the old Romanism which 
it had cast off. 

Protestantism will yet find its true power in an 
adherence to the simple and elementary truths of 
the gospel, ignoring all other issues which have 
no vital relation thereto. The efficiency and power 
of evangelical Protestantism are in those unques- 
tioned truths which enter into and form the common 
basis of all the creeds of its various denominations, 
and an expurgating of all else therefrom; a casting 
away of all secondary and inferior considerations 
would be the occasion for a new departure which 
w T ould soon tell in results more wonderful than have 
ever yet been recorded in the history of the Church. 

One of the first surprises would be to checkmate 
the infidelity and skepticism of the day. Unbeliev- 
ers have in a great measure ceased their direct at- 
tacks on the character and teachings of Christ, or 
the personal faith, hope, and charity which his re- 



Up With the Times. 147 

■ion insi ires. The folly of such attacks has he- 
come too manifest to he continued — too much like 
Emits on the hopes and interests of humanity it- 
It is the side issues — the formularies, the dog- 
the metaphysical speculations — which afford 
the desired opportunities of assault; and in assail- 
ing and overcoming these, they are under the delu- 
sion of snpj >sing that they have in some way tri- 
umphed over Christianity itself. 

Theol Jgical gladiators are brought upon the arena 
of conflict, as the representatives of their respective 
- and creeds. It is a contest for triumph. The 
purpose of each is to show that the other's creed is 
The weapons : on are skill in logic, 

liriess in debate, ridicule, invective, witticism. 
terous arts. These are just such weapons of 
rfare as skepticism can use as well: and the 
may not be slow to discern the real state of 
r. namely, that the truth is with neither, and 
ke are Seeking- to establish untenable issues. 
The skeptic thus feelfi fortified in his unbelief: for, 
if these are the vital issues of their religion, as the 
bearing of the combatants would warrant him in 
supposing, he readily concludes that whatever else 
: . : : ".'..; y be :- \ as. 

Th pons of warfare on which Christianity 

relies are of a different nature: and it is in the use 
such as it recognizes, and such only, that its tri- 
umphs are : ihieved. 

What, then, does the religious world need to be 
up with the times? Revelation itself is op with all 
times. Christianity, in its essential characteristics, 



148 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

is for all times; and, drawn from its original fount- 
ains, is as new, and its tide of life-giving power as 
unabated, as when Pentecost first beheld its glorious 
displays. 

Happily, most of the controversies that have agi- 
tated and divided the Churches have lost much of 
their force. Questions once of all-absorbing concern 
have lost their interest; others, by no means devoid 
of interest, by the common consent of the wise and 
prudent, have been numbered with those things 
which are beyond the solution of human wisdom, 
and as such adjourned over to the great future, 
when all perplexities shall dissolve of themselves. 

Rationalism and Ritualism are likely to accom- 
plish some unexpected results. They will wake up 
the evangelical Churches to the importance of the 
issues upon them, and will be the means of drawing 
them together in closer sympathy — causing a great- 
er unanimity of purpose, w T ith simplified creeds and 
formularies, which can no longer hamper their en- 
ergies or prove a hinderance to a hearty cooperation 
in the common cause of our common salvation. 
May we hope for these things? The signs of the 
times point in that direction ; there is beginning to 
be a felt necessity of the sort — a demand that in 
some way will be met. 



JOHN THE BAPTIST SENDS TO JESUS, 



"Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus 
answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things 
which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are 
raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And 
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they 
departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, 
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with 
the wind? But Avhat went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft 
raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, 
and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, 
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare 
thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are 
born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : 
notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater 
than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the 
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." 
Matthew xi. 3-14. 

THE incident here recorded is certainly one of 
curious interest. At one view we have brought 
before us the two great actors of the gospel history 
— Jesus, the central figure of all, and John the Bap- 
tist, the greatest of the burning and shining lights 
revolving around him. In due and solemn form 
John sends an embassy to Jesus bearing an impor- 
tant message. He would likely have gone in per- 

(149) 



150 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

son, but he was in prison and could not; and, as the 
next best thing he could do, he sends two of his dis- 
ciples, selected probably for their discreetness and 
trustworthiness. The message he sends is in the 
form of an inquiry: "Art thou he that should come, 
or do we look for another?" — that is, Art thou the 
Christ, the Messiah so long foretold by the proph- 
ets, and to whose coming the saints of all ages have 
looked with so much interest? or, after all, are we 
mistaken, and are we still to expect his coming in 
the person of some one else? 

The attentive reader is apt to pause over this 
incident, and, surveying it in all its length and 
breadth, some inquiries will arise which cannot be 
suppressed. The first one will be this: What was 
John's motive? what purpose did he have in view? 
That there was a strong motive, and a deep and 
solemn purpose that influenced him, is apparent on 
the very surface of the narrative. Then, had John's 
mind become obscured with doubts and misgivings 
in regard to Jesus being the Messiah, as he had pre- 
viously supposed and proclaimed him to be? And 
if the reader turn to the commentators for light on 
this point, he will find that with general unanimity 
they decide that no such doubts or fears could have 
influenced the mind of John. Seeing, however, 
that such a decision by no means disposes of the 
difficulty, they seek to find the true solution of the 
motive which he had in view; and find the explana- 
tion, as they suppose, in this: that while John had 
no misgivings in his own mind as to the real Mes- 
siahship of Jesus, yet his (John's) disciples did, and 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 151 

that it was for their benefit, and not his own, that 
he thus sends them to Jesus. But such an inter- 
pretation seems to me wholly gratuitous and with- 
out the shadow of foundation. There is not a hint 
or suggestion in the record to justify it. On the 
contrary, it purports on the face of it to be a mes- 
sage from John to Jesus, and the answer returned 
is sent to John himself — "go show John" — without 
the remotest allusion to his disciples. Why did not 
John himself clear up this matter to his disciples? 
As their own chosen teacher he was surely good 
authority with them, and if all was clear to his own 
mind he could, by a few words, have removed all 
difficulty from their minds. Such an interpretation 
is not in keeping with John's character, His man- 
ner of life was positive, plain-spoken, straightfor- 
ward, and candid almost to bluntness.- He did not 
hesitate to denounce the Pharisees and Sadducees 
in terrible words, and to reproach the king himself 
for his crimes; and to suppose one of such stern 
and solemn mien, and so outspoken in manner, to 
send a formal message to Jesus which seemed to 
solicit information of concern to himself when he 
really intended no such thing, certainly does not 
harmonize with his well-known character. But if 
we could believe this of John, how can we dispose 
of the part that Jesus acted? Can it be supposed 
he would lend himself in carrying out the con- 
nivance? Why should not John himself, in fact, 
have had fears and misgivings on the point for 
which he sought information? The wisest and 
best of the children of men have fallen into similar 



152 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin, 

straits, and it is no disparagement to him that he 
should have had a share in the struggles of life to 
which all alike are so liable* But when we speak 
of his doubts and fears, let us not attach a meaning 
to them which they do not justify. They have no 
reference to his own personal acceptance with God. 
There was no wavering of his faith in the goodness 
and all-sufficiency of God, nor in his personal sal- 
vation in view of his impending fate. Nor had any 
suspicion arisen in his mind that Jesus was not a 
true messenger of God. The fact that he so confi- 
dently applied to Jesus for light and information, 
on a matter of such deep concern to him, shows that 
he regarded him as one of the wisest and best of the 
messengers whom God had sent to the world; but 
might he not be all this and still not be the Mes- 
siah? What, therefore, he wishes to be reassured 
of is whether or not Jesus is the veritable Christ. 
It is true that he had on a previous occasion pointed 
Jesus out, saying of him, "Behold the Lamb of God 
which taketh away the sin of the world; " had bap- 
tized him, and had seen the heavens opened and the 
heavenly dove descending and lighting upon him, 
and had heard the voice from the Most Excellent 
Glory saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased.'' And doubtless John had gone 
forth assured in mind and heart that this w T as none 
other than he of whom Moses in the law and the 
prophets did write — the veritable Christ and Saviour 
of the world. Then, is it possible that he should 
have been the subject of doubt and misgiving after 
having witnessed the display of such glorious man- 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 158 

ifestations? Let one carefully look into the record- 
ed histories of the most eminent messengers whom 
God has sent to our world and note what happened 
to many of them, and then he will be the better 
prepared to judge of the possibilities arising in such 
cases. For it must be remembered that circum- 
stances had greatly changed with John. He was 
confined within the gloomy walls of his prison, shut 
oft" from the sunshine of heaven and the good cheer 
of former associations. He was a victim in the 
clutches of the wicked, and at the mercy of a cruel 
despot. Could one who was only human be other- 
wise than deeply affected under the permissive 
workings of the mysterious providences which had 
befallen him? Xo doubt he felt that the special 
mission to which Heaven called him was about 
fulfilled, and henceforth his thoughts and anxieties 
were directed to the greater mission of Jesus. He 
was eagerly awaiting the results. Every opportunity 
was watched for to hear the news, and each comer 
closely questioned to know how the good cause was 
progressing; and the accounts he received were 
likely gloomy enough. The real state of the case 
at best did indeed wear a most discouraging look. 
The king and all the influence of royalty were un- 
friendly to the cause of Jesus. The rulers in Church 
and State were against him. The priesthood, the 
doctors and religious teachers, the educated and 
wealthy of society who gave tone to popular senti- 
timent and direction to public opinion, were all 
against him; ^nd what mortal man has there ever 
been who could stand up unmoved and indifferent 



1 54 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

to the overwhelming tide of public opinion? But 
even this was not the worst. His own adherents, 
who had eagerly followed him for a season, were 
forsaking him. There is perhaps in human estima- 
tion nothing so damaging to a cause as to be for- 
saken and evil reported of by those who have once 
been enlisted in its behalf. 

The Evangelist John, in the sixth chapter of his 
Gospel history, informs us that on one occasion, 
when Jesus was surrounded by a large number of 
followers he delivered them a discourse — perhaps 
because of the ill-defined motives by which they 
were influenced — which savored so strongly of pure 
spirituality, thus demolishing their hopes of all mere 
personal and selfish aims, that many turned away 
and followed him no more. So deeply were they 
disappointed that crowd after crowd immediately 
turned their backs upon him. With calm solemnity 
surveying the scene, Jesus awaited the result. And 
thus suddenly left alone save by his twelve apostles, 
who still stood near him, he turned to them and said: 
"Will ye also go away?" It was then that Peter 
stepped forward and said: "Lord, to whom should 
we go? thou hast the words of eternal life/' Well 
done, Peter! A noble speech was that, and all the 
more so because of the gloomy and discouraging 
surroundings. We hear a good deal of Peters im- 
pulsive nature and something about his short-com- 
ings, but all honor to his name and memory for this 
heroic speech; it shows him, despite his failings, to 
be possessed of a big heart and a noble mind. 

We may well suppose that this seemingly sudden 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 155 

misfortune that had befallen the cause of Jesus was 
greatly noised abroad, and interpreted by many to 
mean a sad failure soon to end in total discomfiture. 
Doubtless a report of all these things came to the 
ears of John the Baptist, and most likely troubled his 
mind much. Matters had taken such a turn as he had 
never anticipated. He had announced that while 
his cause should decrease that of Jesus should " in- 
crease " — but where was the increase? Nevertheless, 
he was assured of the many wonderful works which 
Jesus was continually performing; but how to rec- 
oncile these, things with those was more than he 
was able to do. If Jesus was thus possessed of such 
mighty power — to open the eyes of the blind, to heal 
the leper, to raise the dead; if the winds and waves 
were obedient to his command; if the very devils 
trembled at his approach, and he had seen Satan 
fall like li^htninof from heaven; and if twelve 
legions of angels were in waiting to come like the 
lightning's glance to do his bidding — why did he 
not go forth conquering and to conquer, demolish- 
ing every barrier and crushing out all opposition? 
John could not understand the matter. He wished 
for more light, and he sought it of Jesus. 

Is it to be wondered at that John did not under- 
stand these things? Xeither did the twelve apostles. 
Though they were continually with him for three 
years, under his constant instruction, yet they failed 
to comprehend the true nature of his mission; and 
not until after his death, resurrection, and ascension, 
and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, were they 
able to take in the true idea of it. 



156 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Now, let us refer to the words of Jesus concern- 
ing John after he had dispatched his, two disciples 
w r ith the answer which he sent him. While these 
returning messengers were yet in sight, but now out 
of hearing of what he would say, Jesus began to 
discourse to his own disciples of John, and for the 
purpose, as it would seem, of effacing from their 
minds any unfavorable impression which this occur- 
rence may have made. He explains to them that 
they were not to infer from this circumstance that 
John was like a reed shaken with the wind — want- 
ing in stability or unnecessarily wavering* in his 
opinions; nor like one delicately brought up in the 
soft indulgence of royalty — wanting in firmness of 
purpose or easily discouraged by appearances. Nay, 
such hasty and unfavorable conclusions were not 
justified by this occurrence, for in spite of it a great- 
er than John the Baptist has not been born. He 
tells them, however, that w T hen his kingdom shall 
be fully set up, and its truth and light shall have 
been manifested in its completeness, the least of its 
subjects shall be greater than he — greater for hav- 
ing a clearer understanding of this matter than 
John now has or can have. The work of redemp- 
tion is not yet complete. The faint gray streaks of 
the coming gospel-day are all that is now discern- 
ible. The full-orbed Sun of righteousness has not 
as yet burst forth upon the world; and for the pres- 
ent John fails to see — not because his eyes are weak, 
not because his vision is imperfect, but he simply 
fails to see for want of light. 

In this same conversation Jesus makes another 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 157 

declaration concerning John to which I invite the 
closest attention, and the more especially so as it fur- 
nishes to my mind the key to the true solution of 
the matter. It is this: Said Jesus, "If ye will re- 
ceive it, this is Elias, which was for to come;" and 
what that meant his hearers ought readily to un- 
derstand. 

The book of prophecy closes with glowing prom- 
ises of the Messiah's coming, and that "Elijah the 
prophet" should precede his appearing. Luke ex- 
plains the prophecy to mean that the messenger 
thus sent should come " in the gpirit and power of 
Elijah." In John the Baptist, therefore, we have 
the antitype of the old Elijah of Israel. The cor- 
respondence between them is in many of its features- 
very striking. Both were of stern and solemn 
mien, and dwelt much in the wilderness or waste 
places; both were singularly brave and lion-hearted. 
Elijah did not hesitate to face King Ahab and 
charge upon him his crimes and iniquities. For a 
like course of John toward Herod he was now in 
prison. The vengeful Jezebel raging for the life 
of Elijah finds its counterpart in the bloody-minded 
Herodias demanding the head of John the Baptist. 
Elijah, after displaying a heroism never surpassed, 
strangely fell into misgivings and fears and fled for 
his life. John the Baptist, at the close of a career 
of heroic and matchless brilliancy and success, 
strangely falls into fears and misgivings, and from 
the depths of distressing darkness cries to Jesus for 
help and light. In the many striking features of 
resemblance between Elijah and John, may we not 



158 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

conclude that the troubles of the one also find their 
correspondence in those of the other, and that a 
solution of those of the former will solve those of 
the latter? 

After the undaunted courage with which Elijah, 
single and alone, had stood up against Ahab, the 
hosts of Israel, and the array of BaaPs prophets, 
and won so glorious a triumph, it is strange 
that he should suddenly have been overcome 
with darkness and fear because of the ravings of 
the wicked Jezebel. But so it was. He stopped 
not till he was far off into the wilderness, when, 
weary and well-nigh overcome with despair, he sat 
down under a juniper -tree and then and there 
prayed to die. Wherefore? Ah, all seemed to 
be utter failure. His zeal for the God of Israel 
amounted to nothing. All w^as lost which had been 
worth saving; only himself was left true to God, and 
now they sought to destroy him. Anxieties had 
sunk him to the lower depths of hopeless despair. 
There seemed to be no end to the weary years of 
wretchedness and woe through which Israel was 
passing. Wickedness in its most loathsome form 
sat enthroned in royal power, the vilest men on 
every side were exalted, righteousness had fled to 
parts unknown and dared no more to show its face. 
"How long, O Lord, how long!" has been the de- 
spairing cry of the ages, while the powers of dark- 
ness have every thing their own way. What is it 
that stays the arm of justice? what is it that with- 
holds the thunder-bolts of divine wrath? 

The prophet needed encouragement, and he re- 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 159 

ceivecl it by being assured that matters, bad as they 
were, were better than they looked to him to be. 
God's ways are not as man's ways; the wisdom of 
man is foolishness with God. The prophet needed 
instruction here, and it was given. He was told to 
stand on the mount as the Lord should pass by. 
With solemn awe he adjusted himself to receive the 
needed instruction. Then the manifestations began. 
First there came a mighty wind which shook the 
mountains and rended the rocks. Surely the Lord 
was in the wind; but no, he was not. Then came 
the trembling earthquake, making the very founda- 
tions of the mountain to quake. Surely the Lord was 
in the earthquake; but no, he was not. Then came 
a great fire, that awful consumer that sweeps every 
thing before it. Surely the Lord was< in the fire; 
but no, he was not. And now came a manifestation 
of an altogether different nature. This time it was 
" the still small voice." It was then that the prophet 
bowed himself and wrapped his face in his mantle; 
for indeed the Lord was there! 'What was the les- 
son? Let Elijah know, let the children of God for 
all time to come know, that such instrumentalities 
as mighty winds, earthquakes, and all-consuming 
fires are the chastisements of the wicked — the 
means by which God destroys the nations which 
seek to destroy his earth ; but it is with the still 
small voice that conscience is touched, the mind en- 
lightened, the affections subdued, and by such the 
hearts of the children of men are won to himself, 
and shall dwell with him as his children in the 
heaven of love forever. Bearing this lesson in 



160 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

mind, let us again refer to this conversation of Je- 
sus. He says: "From the days of John the Bap- 
tist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth vio- 
lence, and the violent take it by force" — take it as 
besiegers capture a city by battering down its bul- 
warks and demolishing its walls. Put in connection 
with this the incident of Jesus and his disciples 
being denied admission into a Samaritan village. 
The rude inhospitality aroused the fury of his apos- 
tles. James and John wished him to say the word, 
and they, like Elijah, would call fire down from 
heaven to destroy its inhabitants. That was the 
line that old Elijah ran when he called fire down 
from heaven to consume the two files of fifty soldiers 
each which came to fetch him before the king. And 
this was the line that James and John desired to 
run, but Jesus replied by assuring them that they 
knew not what manner of spirit they were of. 

Jesus had said his kingdom was not of this world. 
Wherein? The kingdoms of this world establish 
and maintain themselves by violent means — as it 
were, if possible, by winds, earthquakes, and fires. 
But Christ's kingdom cometh not with observation; 
it is within — is love, peace, joy. The wisdom which 
is from above is gentle and easy to be entreated, 
speaks with the whisperings of the still small voice, 
and assures comfort to the mourner and consolation 
to the bereaved. 

The ministry of John the Baptist was brief but 
brilliant — a splendid success from beginning to end. 
They flocked to him by crowds and communities — 
all men pressed into the kingdom while it suffered 



John the Baptist Sends to Jesus. 161 

violence. There was no disaffection in his ranks; 
no crowds of offended hearers forsaking his cause. 
Yet he had said the great " increase" should be un- 
der the ministry of Jesus. Perhaps he looked for 
the " increase" in the same manner and from the 
same direction his had come. May be he had over- 
looked the point how the hearts of the children of 
men are won by the persuasives of the still small 
voice. The " increase" was indeed going on — not 
after that manner which cometh with observation, 
but like the leaven, whose workings are so silent the 
ear cannot hear them, so gentle and gradual the eye 
cannot see them; nevertheless it works steadily and 
surely, and shall so work till the whole lump be 
leavened, 
ll 



TROUBLOUS TIMES, 



'Why art thou cast down, O inv soul? an : thou disqui- 

eted in me? hope thou in God." Psalm xlii. 0. 

THE history of the world is a sad one at best. 
From the earliest traces of history downward, 
the career or humanity has in the main been one 
of turmoil. Revolutions, commotions* upheavals, 
swell the records of every nation: and vet the bet- 
ter heart of humanity has not been entirely bereft 
of hope. The brighter era. when i: shall be an- 
nounced that ••there shall be no more war.'* has 
been the felt want, and its hoped-for coming the 
ultimate refuge from despair. 

Our age. which had given a fresh impetus to new 
discoveries, the enlargement of science and art, the 
wider dissemination of intelligence and Christian- 
ity, seemed to give hopeful promise of a brightei 
future: but in an hour unlooked for. the hori 
has become overcast with fearful portents, th 
clouds have turned the day into darkness, a 
is hid in almost total eclipse. Wisdom's most as- 
tute calculations have failed, the shrewdest forecast 
has been brought to naught, brightest hopes have 
suddenly vanished, buoyant hearts are made deso- 

*S __• sted by the gloom and despondency oj | - _ the minds 
and hearts of the Southern people at the dose of the late civil 
— 18 

(162 



Troublous Times. 1G3 

late, the harp is hung upon the willow, while the 
mourner sits silent in tribulation. 

So it is: the desponding are ready to conclude 
that never were troubles like these, no times so 
sadly out of joint as the times upon which we have 
fallen. But we must not ignore the fact that like 
troubles have been the heritage of the children of 
men from time immemorial. Centuries ago, one 
who was wise and good, and who knew from sore 
experience what troublous times meant, cried out 
in agony of spirit: "Why art thou cast down, 
O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? 
hope thou in God.' 7 When earth seemed to have 
no remedy, he found hope in looking to God, 
"Ah, yes," some will likely say; "and such too had 
been our hope, but all is lost notwithstanding." 

Not long since I met a friend with whom I had 
been intimate in former years — a gentleman of in- 
telligence and genius, and though not religious, yet 
religious subjects often engaged his serious thoughts. 
In the course of conversation, he remarked: "I 
have altered my creed in one particular. I used to 
be a firm believer in a special providence, but I have 
totally abandoned all notions leaning in that direc- 
tion." And one may meet with many religious 
men who, if they do not thus pointedly declare their 
minds to have undergone the same change, will free- 
ly admit that their views have received important 
modifications in that regard. They have not indeed 
abandoned their hope in the saving efficacy of their 
religion, so far as the future life is concerned, but 
have concluded that the personal relation toward 



164 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

God can have but a slight bearing on the plans 
and purposes of the present; that in respect to 
earthly interests one must take the chances, and 
simply make the best of them; and that if ever 
there was a time when the race was not to the swift 
nor the battle to the strong, it referred to some age 
more miraculous than that in which our lots are cast. 

One of high official position in the religious 
world recently published an account of the pro- 
ceedings of a Convention of Southern Churches. 
Among other business that came up, a report was 
called for respecting the attendance on public wor- 
ship; and after a comparison of views from various 
sections, the conclusion was that it was more mea- 
ger than in former years; that some who used to 
be punctual attendants now stay away, and aver 
that they are "done praying and voting," their con- 
cern henceforth being solely to look after their ma- 
terial wants. 

It is quite likely that on careful inquiry similar 
reports could be had on a more extended scale. It 
can scarcely have escaped the notice of the more ob- 
servant how the faith of many has given way to 
despondency. With them the inducements to cher- 
ish life are sadly depreciated, and they seem to 
feel that Heaven has left them in orphanage to 
struggle all alone. Surely this is one of the most 
sorrowful aspects of the times; for there is no 
thought so disconsolate, so desolate, as that of a 
suspicion of being God- forsaken. Dark indeed 
must be the clouds that shut out God from the 
world he has created and his children whom he has 



Troublous Times. 165 

placed as dweller- there. Yet such persons are not 
to be harshly upbraided. Their afflictions are not 
imaginary. Their souls are already bowed down to 
the dust, and to heap censure upon them is only to 
sink them to despair. No; their sorrow is real, 
and they deserve to be tenderly entreated. They 
need light, they need to be comforted. 

No soul can be utterly desolate while it still con- 
fides in God as the Disposer of all events, the Sov- 
ereign Arbiter whose awards none may evade. In 
the dispensations of God none indeed may presume 
to look behind the throne to penetrate its ulterior 
designs and purposes. It is enough to know that 
he who sits upon the throne controls all, and doeth 
all things well: that in him we live and move; that 
he appoints the bounds of the habitations of all peo- 
ples: that he operates on the minds and hearts of all 
men. making even the wicked and cruel instruments 
to subserve his purpose, giving bent and bias to all 
human events, and conducting their flow with inev- 
itable precision to their destined results; apportion- 
ing the good and evil of this life with its personal 
fortunes and misfortunes, causing them to fall when, 
where, and upon whom he may designate, and to 
the degree he may allow, and not one iota more 
nor less. And all this too with a wisdom that never 
mistakes, and with a view to the good of the world 
which he is reconciling to himself. 

Troubles and troublous times are Heaven's anti- 
dotes for evils a thousand times greater than them- 
selves. True, the innocent may sometimes suffer 
with or for the guilty, yet such are always within 



166 Sermoks by A. P. McFkrren. 

Lis keeping: and that which may look tc be irrep- 
arable to mortal eyes cannot really be 3C with 
him. There are some things far better than life it- 
self, some things far worse than 1c th ? and compen- 
sating resources are abundant for whatever lie may 
allow to befall the humbles: sufferer. 

Now, the difficulties of the sase do not arise from 
our inability to perceive the truth ;: these things, 
foi : i ttei reason assures us o: the correctness 
of these views respecting the divine purpose and 
[ rocedure in the government : human affairs, as 
amply corroborate i by observation and the Teach- 
ings of history. The: all human airairs. whether 
of individuals or nations, are superintended and 
controlled by the Divine presence and power con- 
stitutes the pole-star of the rids hope; uncer- 
tainty here would be fatal to all hums ulations. 
In prosperity we readily assent :: a hearty .-cucnr- 
rence with such teachings, but in adversity;: is not 
sasy tc realize them. When the tide is against 
us, we begin to feel uneasy apprehensions lest there 

some po6sil options t the rules which 

bear on the n i£ ir but :«ue exception. :-ur case 

is the one that constitutes it. 

Erron i resj acting the 

troubles an mee rf this life. They 

nth the 1 retributi m, or 

judgments sent from the sc I jus- 

Failure suggests the bus{ : Ion of a bad can-: : 

- of dis- 

__ gisteit in the 

courts of fa 



Tkoublous Times. 167 

mities, whether individaal or national, 
are - metimea dispensed as an avenging retribution 
may be quite true, but at the same time it is alto- 
gether sate to assert that they are generally dis- 
ced for the working out of good to those upon 
whom they are sent. Viewed simply in the light 
of retribution, as generally dispensed, they do not 
t accomplish that end, since the least blame- 
jually with the more culpable, 
and the simple-hearted are overtaken where the 
guilty escape. 

The ordinary course of life affords us numerous 
examples of this sort. The good aud wise are not 
any means the universal winners in the strife of 
; thrift may fail to thrive, industry to aeeumu- 
. merit to succeed. That the right use of the 
: ight means will as a rule bring its promised reward 
is allowed to be sufficiently sure to warrant the 
ar efl :::: but at the same time failures are so 
numerous, and from causes so inscrutable, from con- 
tinge:, b :■- so unforeseen, as to assure us that, despite 
all human sagacity, there is no absolute assurance 
li shall prosper — this or that. 
There are those who may point us to this uncer- 
tainty as the result of a fate inexorable in its awards 
and from which there can be no appeal; but our 
rr nature and the faith that assures us of the 
value of life recognize in it the Providence 
: controls and overrules all human events, wheth- 
er small or great. 

I do not call in question the fact that the misfort- 
unes of men may ofttimes be graciously meant to 



168 Sermons by A. P. McFerbin. 

correct their errors and amend their faults. Errors 
and faults lead to difficulties, and these difficulties 
in turn act as persuasives to seek another and bet- 
ter way; but their real and higher good is that they 
serve as a disciplinary process for the development 
and maturity of the sterner and better virtues of 
our nature. These virtues grow strong by being 
strongly exercised; tribulation worketh patience; 
danger develops courage; hardships, endurance; 
trials, integrity; not that such processes originate 
the virtues in question, but rather as being dormant 
thej 7 need to be exercised — it may be sometimes 
severely — for their higher development and matu- 
rity. It is by such schooling that individuals be- 
come qualified for positions of honor and trust, and 
the same may hold good with communities and na- 
tionalities. Therefore, to be tried, to be pressed 
with misfortunes, does not, as some are so ready to 
interpret it, imply the disfavor of God; but on the 
contrary, that he is only schooling such by way of 
preparation for trusts and honors in due time to be 
committed to their keeping. 

To amplify and illustrate these views does not 
enter into my present design. The object is simply 
to point to them as suggestive and not inapplicable 
to the times, in the hope of inducing such a course 
of reflection as may lead to more encouraging views 
on the part of those who are disconsolate because 
of the unhappy changes and untoward events by 
which they have been overtaken. 

Concerning the troubles of the times more par- 
ticularly, and the dark clouds which yet linger 



Troublous Times. 169 

about the horizon, I need only say they are not en- 
tirely unlike those often occurring in the history 
of the world. The same superintending Provi- 
dence that has disposed of those of the past will 
not be insufficient now. The teachings of Provi- 
dence are not only for the benefit of the present, 
but also for the ages succeeding. To the sufferer 
their developments and ultimate fruits may appear 
to be slow. Principles, however, are to be made to 
work out their own results, whether good or bad, 
that they may be clearly perceived and ever after- 
ward understood. Error and untruth must have 
ample scope and verge for self-explosion, that they 
may no more counterfeit the genuine, and thereby 
deceive the unwary. 

Wait! God is in the world, and in due time he 
will justify his ways and vindicate his providences. 
The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by 
night may have vanished from the heavens, but 
the Jehovah who dwelt therein still abides, and is 
the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. The good 
he has in store for those who wait in patient hope 
he will not fail to bestow; while good days and 
prosperity far beyond the former shall come to pass 
— it may be in a time, a way unlooked for, and in 
a manner and measure that shall amply requite for 
present troubles. Then "hope thou in God," for 
in so doing you shall in due time reap if you faint 
not. The dreary season may seem to be prolonged, 
but the fruit which comes of patient waiting on 
God is eternal. Guided by his counsels, your 
trouble shall be but the weeping which endures only 



170 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

for a night and which brings joy in the morning, 
while the intense darkness which now so much 
distresses you shall be like unto that which precedes 
the near approach of day, leaning hopefully against 
the eastern sky waiting to be kissed away by the 
first blushes of the rising sun. Then "hope thou 
in God." 






SPIRITUAL GIFTS, 



"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit 
withal." 1 Corinthians xii. 7. 

THE special manifestation of the Spirit of which 
the apostle speaks in this text — as he tells us 
in a preceding verse — is " concerning spiritual gifts." 
And what he means 'by spiritual gifts is, I think, 
about the same in sum and substance as that sot 
forth by our Lord in the parable of the talents in 
the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. That para- 
ble, studied in connection with this chapter, will 
greatly assist in attaining to a clear apprehension 
of the important truths of which they treat. Jesus 
sets forth the matter in the form of a parable — his 
usual mode of illustrating things spiritual by those 
which are natural. And though spiritual things be 
dissimilar to those wdiich are natural, yet there is a 
correspondence between them; and to show where- 
in this correspondence is constitutes one of the in- 
imitable excellences of our Lord's teachings. In 
this instance he tells us that the bestowment of 
these gifts is like unto an earthly lord who was 
making ready to ^o on a Ions; journey to be sfone a 
great while; and he called his servants together and 
distributed to them his valuables, in order that they 
might be well and wisely employed during his ab- 
sence. To one he gave live talents, to another two, 

(171) 



172 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

to another one — to each his appropriate portion. 
Isot one of them could say, "I am left out of the 
count, and there is nothing for me to do/' Xor 
could any one say, " The task laid on me is too heavy 
to be borne,' 5 for these apportionments were made 
according to their "several ability/' 

The correspondence to this is likely found in our 
Lord's ascension on high, and his commitment to 
the children of men of what he elsewhere calls the 
"true riches" — all gifts and graces that may be 
used for wise and gracious purposes, till he come 
again to reckon with them according to their faith- 
fulness or unfaithfulness. 

It is worthy of note that while the term talents, as 
employed in the parable, literally implies a large sum 
of money, yet, in our language as popularly used, 
it signifies gifts, capacities, endowments — bestow- 
ments that may be used for wise ends and for useful 
and noble purposes — doubtless the real meaning in- 
tended by our Lord. So also the apostle tells us 
concerning spiritual gifts that there are diversities 
of gifts, but all of "the self-same Spirit." distributed 
of God " severally as he will." To one is given the 
word of wisdom, to another the word of knowl- 
edge; "some are apostles; others, prophets, teach- 
ers, helps, governments," etc. 

Now, I doubt not that the meaning of the apos- 
tle is much the same as if he were speaking to us 
here and now, and, in view of the age in which we live 
and our surroundings, privileges, and opportunities, 
were to say: "God has bestowed on you diversities 
of gifts; to each one of you the special gift adapted 



Spiritual Gifts. 173 

to your circumstances and surroundings; on some 
of you he has bestowed such gifts as will make you 
suitable for the work of Sunday-schools — as super- 
intendents, teachers, or officials; some of you as 
suitable helps in the economy of the Church — as 
stewards, deacons, elders, class-leaders; on some of 
you he has bestowed the gift of prayer, which so 
suitably adapts you to lead in the social religious 
meeting; or the gift of song, that can be so happily 
and generally turned to good account." And if one 
should feel conscious of -the fact of not possessing 
any of these more demonstrative gifts, his may be 
the gift of an acutely sympathetic nature, the hap- 
py art of reaching the emotional nature of others, 
whereby a kindly word or gentle overture is so 
often efficient in winning a soul to Christ. In a 
word, there is work for every worker, and Christ 
has special use for every one who desires to be 
useful. 

I know that in human estimation some of those 
gifts may seem to be great, greater, greatest; others, 
little, less, least ; but really all the gifts of the Spirit 
are great, and Heaven's estimates may be widely 
different from ours. Indeed, the apostle takes 
special pains to guard us against erroneous conclu- 
sions on this point. He tells us that the Church of 
Christ is one body — like the human body, having 
many members; these members have not the 
same office, and the feeblest member of the body 
is necessary. We feel that we could not spare one 
joint of our little finger. All the members are in 
like sympathy with the body, and at the same time 



174 Sermoxs by A. P. McFerrin. 

united in sympathy with each other, insomuch that 
if one member — even the feeblest — suffer, all the 
other members" sympathizingly suffer with it; and 
if one member be honored, all the other members 
rejoice with it. Therefore, the foot may not say, 
" Because I am not the hand there is no use for me; " 
nor the ear say, "Because I am not the eye there is 
no use for me;" for if the body were all seeing, 
where were the hearing? or if it were all hearing, 
where were the smelling? So hath God set the 
members, every one of them, in the body as it hath 
pleased him; and that which seems to be the least 
is as necessary in its place as that which seems to 
be the greatest is in its place. 

Such are the-bestowments of the Spirit. And let 
no one suppose that the responsibility for the proper 
use of these gifts rests only on those who profess to 
be the followers of Christ. On the contrary, the 
apostle declares that this "manifestation of the 
Spirit is given to every man," and the measure of 
the responsibility must be commensurate with the 
gift. And it is a serious mistake, which manv clever 
people make, in supposing themselves to be exempt 
in any degree from the obligations imposed by 
Christ's religion, because of a non-profession of be- 
ing his followers. Every hearer of the gospel be- 
longs to Christ as his purchased possession, as much 
as any other hearer, and the ignoring of this fact 
will in no degree abate the measure of his responsi- 
bility. it is sad to think of the precious, splen- 
did gifts dormant and unappreciated by so many of 
the excellent of societv, who in their better minds 



Spiritual Gifts. 175 

and hearts are not only friendly in their views, but 
really well-wishers of the cause of our holy and 
blessed religion. If they would only reflect how 
much happier they would be, what a stream of 
light and joy would be let into their souls, by stir- 
ring up the heavenly gift within them, surely they 
would no longer delay to acknowledge their obliga- 
tions to Him who bought them with so great a price. 
And now I wish to invite your especial attention 
to the reason assigned by the apostle for the mani- 
festation of these gifts of the Spirit. The design of 
their bestowment is "to profit withal." They are 
given for use, and are used in view of the outcome 
of the profit. All the bestowments of God are to 
this end — the profit. Profit is the main-spring of 
all business. It is the profit that originates, pushes 
forward, and carries out all grand enterprises. In 
every great scheme, whether it be earthly or heav- 
enly, the ruling element is the profit. It is that 
special item which enters into every calculation and 
governs the sum total of every conclusion. Our 
blessed Lord has not hesitated to set before us the 
great issues of eternal life and death in the shape 
of a sum of profit and loss — "What shall it profit a 
man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul?" There it is : a problem to be soberly 
considered and cautiously ciphered out — indicating 
that just here there is a chance for such an error in 
calculation as may terminate in ruinous and eternal 
bankruptcy. Yea, I do not think it amiss to believe 
that this grand and glorious universe, in the midst 
of which we find ourselves placed, has been origi- 



176 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

nated and planned, and its machinery is being run 
on the score of the outcome of the profit; and that 
the Infinite Wisdom which presides over the flow 
of the ages so conducts the destined results that as 
one great era terminates its accumulated profits are 
transferred to the new one to succeed it, and thus 
with augmented resources a new departure is made 
looking to still grander results and sublimer termi- 
nations. 

Go on, on! " On to perfection " is the motto in- 
scribed on all things of God's ordaining, and that 
which is profitless is confessedly a failure; and this 
is as true of religion as of business. Indeed, this 
matter-of profit is made by the Apostle Pauloue of 
the chief features of the text — "to profit withal. v 
So likewise has Jesus in his parable of the talents. 
What was the measure of condemnation resting on 
the unfaithful servant? He had not squandered his 
lord's money in riotous living, nor indeed used it at 
all, but had hidden it away in the earth for its safe 
preservation; and when called to a reckoning lie 
produced the sum entire — every cent of it. But 
this did not meet the demands of the case. The 
money had been given him not to be laid away, but 
to be used; and as a valuable commodity it was en- 
titled to its legitimate profit, and to this end had it 
been intrusted to him — therefore, the measure of his 
condemnation was that he had been unprofitable. 
And he was unprofitable not for want of ways and 
opportunities to have produced different results, but 
because of his slothfulness; and slothfulness is ever 
as incompatible with success in religion as it is in 



Spiritual Gifts. 177 

business. It is a dead weight against all progress 
whether in Church or State — a fruitless tree that 
eucumhereth the ground. 

Nay, my friends, despite the dreams of dream- 
ers and the vagaries of unbelievers, this is God's 
world, and the cause of Christ is its chief concern: 
and he who fails to contribute his appropriate part 
thereunto will be reckoned with to his hurt. It is 
not enough that one should console himself with 
the thought that he is doing but little harm and 
is certainly in no degree unfriendly to the success 
of the gospel. Negative goodness is well as far as 
it goes, but life invested with capacities and oppor- 
tunities demands productive goodness. "Every 
branch.'" says Jesus, "that beareth not fruit shall 
be taken away: and herein is my Father glorified, 
that ye bear much fruit." 

How lamentable, to think of the vast treasures 
now hidden away in the earth unused and profit- 
less, while God's world so much needs them and his 
cause is so loudly calling for help! These treasures 
have beeu intrusted to those possessed of noble 
endowments, which if put forth would accomplish 
beneficent and glorious results both for time and 
eternity. Not only outside of the Church, but also 
within its pale, are treasures so feebly used as to 
produce only in a small degree what their legitimate 
use would demand. Xay. there is within the Church 
a wealth of resources, with a latent power at com- 
mand, which if duly put forth would move an as- 
tonished world from center to circumference. 

And what is the nature of that employment to 

12 



178 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

which God invites us? It is to be workers together 
with Christ in developing the grand results of the 
world's redemption — a redemption the full fruitions 
of which shall constitute it the crowning glory of 
the universe. Such is the employment to which we 
are invited; and in contemplating the boundless 
and felicitous prospects which open up before us, 
who does not have his soul thrilled with lofty aspi- 
rations to be a sharer with Christ and angels and 
saints in the grand and glorious results .as they shall 
appear in the great hereafter? 

The encouragement to diligent faithfulness is viv- 
idly set before us by our Lord in his commenda- 
tion of the faithful servant, who had not only 
proved himself to be a profitable but also a willing 
and cheerful servant — -the manner of the service 
greatly enhancing the appreciation of the incidental 
profits. There is something repelling in a murmur- 
ing, complaining, grudging service, while that of a 
willing and cheerful kind greatly appreciates its 
worth beyond its intrinsic value. The good servant 
does not go to his appointed work simply as a task 
imposed upon him, but rather with the appreciation 
of it as a generous trust confided to him. And this 
is the kind of service commended by the Lord and 
Master. Since his good servants have performed 
their assigned duties as a generous trust confided to 
them, so he will reckon with them on a correspond- 
ingly generous scale by receiving nothing in return, 
but bestows on them principal, interest, profit — all. 
He engages their service as though he himself were 
the beneficiary, but makes them the recipients of all 



Spiritual Gifts. 179 

the benefits. Even the good they do in his name 
unto their fellow-men is more than measured back 
unto themselves; insomuch that he who, in his 
name, shall forgive a debt against his fellow-servant 
for "a hundred pence," may make it the means of 
receiving in return therefor the equivalent of "ten 
thousand talents." 

The characteristic of the good servant that most of 
all calls forth his commendation is that he has proved 
himself to be trustworthy; and trustworthiness is 
the brightest ^em in the diadem of human charae- 
ter, and is that one virtue which hides a multitude 
of foibles and imperfections. He who is trustwor- 
thy commands our approval, while he who has 
shown himself not to be so forfeits it, and there is 
no help for it. It is on the score of tested and 
proved trustworthiness that the better verdict of 
society awards its honors in the bestowment of its 
responsible positions to such; and it appears to be 
on the same score that the Lord and Master awards 
his honors: "Thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things." 
And who may say that it is not of such who are to 
be constituted kings and priests unto God in the 
great hereafter, and that the disciplinary processes 
of the present may not have their larger purposes 
in reference to the future life, and the uses which 
Infinite Wisdom may have for the materials being 
developed in the present probationary state? Con- 
cerning these things we indeed now "know only in 
part," but shall more fully "know hereafter." But 
the glimpses already afforded us are enough to ex- 



180 Sermons by A. P. McFermx. 

cite our loftiest aspirations and most enthusiastic 

devotions. We are hastening on to the termination 
of the great drama of the world's redemption — a 
termination which shall emerge into such a sur- 
passing dispensation of light, joy, and glory as is at 
present beyond the range of the highest conception 
of created intelligences. It is Jesus our Forerunner 
who is working out for us the glorious consumma- 
tion — a consummation open to his view from the 
beginning; and for the joy thus set before him he 
" endured the cross, despising the shame/' and shall 
be "satisfied with the travail of his soul." And as 
workers together with him, we become incidentally 
sharers with him, whether in the shame or glory 
pertaining to the perfecting of his redemption. Yie 
may not shrink from the trials that meet us, nor 
despair amidst the sorrows through which we are 
called to pass. As our Forerunner, he has realized 
these far more than we shall ever be called upon to 
do; and we too, for the joy set before us in him, 
may well afford, whether through good report or 
evil report, to " rejoice evermore, and in every thing 
give thanks." We are so in him and he in us that 
whatever gives glory to him brings good to us. 
It is not only a community of interest, but a per- 
sonal, heart-felt interest, that impels us onward to 
the good things being prepared for those who love 
him. And the awards to his faithful servants shall 
be so satisfactory that each shall feel as though 
he were the favorite of the celestial family; and 
whether it be he to whom one talent or many has 
been committed, the satisfaction shall be so complete 



Spiritual Gifts. 181 

that ingenuity can suggest nothing beyond. What- 
ever distinctions may exist in the heavenly world, 
we may rest assured there will be no possible room 
for envy or invidious preferments. The humblest 
and obscurest servant of the Lord, faithful to the 
extent of his opportunities, need not be discour- 
aged because of the contracted or unfortunate 
sphere in which his lot has been cast. The celes- 
tial mode of calculation widely differs from that 
of the earthly arithmetic; and despite all human 
formula, the last may prove to be first and the least 
to be greatest. The gift of the poor widow's two 
mites shall rank with the princely munificence of 
the millionaire; and the humble Hannah conse- 
crating her infant Samuel to God shall outshine the 
Queen of Sheba; while the Lord, who sees fit to 
speak with an audibleness of voice to an infant 
Samuel what he withholds from an aged Eli, may 
surprise the general assembly at the last day in 
showing how he has often used the babes and suck- 
lings as the best possible instrumentalities in work- 
ing out the problems of the world's redemption. 
It was to the little Hebrew captive girl in his house- 
hold to whom Xaaman was, under God, specially 
indebted for escape from the dreadful fate of the 
leper. He that is "faithful in that which is least" is 
accounted as " also faithful in much," if that be the 
extent of his opportunities; and if the good servant 
be reduced to the saddest extremities, and can offer 
no token of his devotion but tears of trustful sor- 
row, be it so; the offering will be accepted and the 
tears bottled up in heaven. 



182 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

The great day of the Lord hastens on — a day that 
shall be accounted as the "joy of the Lord" — and 
the rejoicings that it shall bring to his trusted serv- 
ants will be a thousand-fold more than compensa- 
tion for whatever of sacrifice and suffering they 
have endured for his name's sake. Blessed is he 
that endureth to the end. Jesus tells us that in his 
" Father's house there are many mansions," and I 
shall account it a great mercy to become a dweller 
in any one of them; but if the choice of selection 
were left to me, I would say, " Let my dwelling- 
place be in that one which Jesus calls 'the joy of 
the Lord'" — the sweetest words ever uttered per- 
taining to the heavenly world. 



THE TONGUE, 



" The tongue can no man tame." James iii. 8. 
" Speaking the truth in love." Ephesians iv. 15. 
" By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt 
be condemned." Matthew xii. 37. 

WHAT we speak, when we speak, where we 
speak, are matters of no small concern. 
The power of speech is one of the noblest gifts 
with which humanity is endowed. Indeed, the 
tongue is a wonderful instrument, and its power 
for good or evil is incalculable. Who can describe 
it — its dexterity, its subtle workings, its untiring 
energy? The stoutest human frame soon bows and 
bends under the infirmities of accumulating years, 
and grows tremulous at approaching dissolution, 
but still the tongue retains its elasticity ; when it 
fails — when one is pronounced sjicechles^r-we take 
it as a sign that all is well-nigh gone. 

It is the tongue that makes man appear to be the 
greatest contradiction in the world — by which he 
seems to be the wisest and best, or the absurdest 
and wickedest, of all God's creatures. 

Therewith he blesses God — therewith he curses 
men. Therewith he makes plain the way of wis- 
dom, or with equal facility darkens counsels — dem- 
onstrates truth, or with equal fluency propagates 
error. How insinuating its power! How it gains 
ascendency over the mind and heart, and holds do- 

(183J 



184 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

minion over the entire sympathies of our nature! 
How it soothes, and softens, and turns away wrath! 
Or, on the contrary, how piercing and cutting it 
can become! How it rasps, irritates, inflames, set- 
ting " on fire the course of nature" — " set on fire 
of hell." It causes the social circle to sparkle and 
glow with animation and pleasure; and yet it is, 
and ever has been, the incorrigible disturber of the 
peace and happiness of society. 

There is nothing so much as the tongue that 
shows how wise one is — nothing that so much shows 
how foolish one can be. Indeed, we instinctively 
measure the depth of one's wisdom inversely by 
the length of one's tongue. A very wordy man 
will scarcely succeed in passing himself off as a very 
wise one. * 

The profoundest writer, in the profoundest book 
in the world, has said that a fool quickly uttereth 
all his mind, but a wise man keepeth his in till after- 
ward; and that he that shutteth his lips is esteemed 
as a man of, understanding. Not that silence itself 
is wisdom, but rather this: there is a time to speak 
and a time to be silent, and good it is for him who 
is able to discern between them. Nor would we be 
understood as advancing any views that would mil- 
itate against the full, free, generous flow of speech, 
when properly directed, than which nothing more 
tends to the improvement, edification, and enjoy- 
ment of social life. 

To converse well and fluently is a rare gift, and 
he who possesses it is intrusted with a talent for 
the accomplishment of incalculable good. Indeed, I 



The Tongue. 185 

cannot, just now, think of any talent that may be 
used more constantly, and with more facility for 
the promotion of good. It gives the readiest access 
to the ten de rest sensibilities of the soul, whereby 
one may console the unhappy, recall the erring, en- 
courage the desponding. 

If the pen is mightier than the sword, what, then, 
must be the power of the tongue, compared to which 
the pen is but a laggard? It is the very instrument 
which the Saviour of the world has chosen for the 
dissemination of his religion. i; Go into all the 
world" is the broad commission; and as you go, 
— -claim, by living tongue, from the heights 
of every hill-top and the depths of every valley, to 
every passer-by, glad tidings, peace on earth, good- 
will toward men ; speak to the millions of the world's 
Eedeemer; tett them of his dying love, of his rising 
er; bid them welcome to the waters of life; say 
to them, Here is rest for the weary, health for the 
:. life for the dead. 

It becomes, therefore, a matter of no small account 
that this gift, among the greatest and best that 
Heaven has bestowed, be under proper guidance. 
But how greatly are its powers perverted! It is 
almost certain that there is no one fault so common 
i - svil-speaking. Even some good people are still 
addicted to this fault, though they may have well- 
nigh overcome all others. And if auy is led to sup- 
pose that words, mere words, are small matters, let 
soch be reminded that reason and revelation teach 
differently; that we are accountable for our words as 
11 as for our acts, for what we say as well as for 



186 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

what we do. Indeed, there is scarcely a readier way 
whereby one may offend, whether as against man or 
God. There are but few trespasses against our fel- 
low-men that it is often more difficult to forgive; 
while the unpardonable sin against God, whatever 
it may be, seems to have some connection with what 
the tongue has uttered (" because they said, He hath 
an unclean spirit"). 

Lying and bearing false witness are as clearly in- 
terdicted as worshiping idols; but it is not concern- 
ing these grosser enormities that we now speak. 
One may loathe these more iniquitous forms of 
speech as abominations in the sight of Heaven and 
all good society, and yet by no means wholly escape 
from the injuries of evil-speaking. Though one 
should speak with the tongue of an angel and have 
not charity, the end is not met. Even truth itself 
must be tempered with charity. Truth of itself 
will not answer the demands of goodness or pro- 
priety. Because one may speak the truth, and yet 
do so in all malice. One may speak the truth, and 
yet do so as a matter of sheer revenge. One may 
speak the truth, and yet do so to the infliction of 
great if not mortal injury. What! will it be asked, 
May not one speak the truth? Yes, when neces- 
sary or proper to do so; otherwise, one should not 
speak at all. Speaking the truth with improper 
motives, or in mere wantonness, does not make even 
speaking the truth itself proper. If speaking the 
truth can do no good, and must result in harm, 
then, actuated by such motives, speaking the truth 
becomes criminal. 



The Tongue. 187 

Of course. I d 'hide to cases where the pub- 

lic ffood and the authority of the State demand ex- 
posure for the punishment of evil-doers, but to those 
numerous forms of evil-speaking which can result 
only in private wrong or public scandal. Evil- 
aking and tale-bearing are the bane of good 
bc siety, and the fruitful source of private griefs and 
s >nal wrongs. And these results may be brought 
about without any resort to falsehood. Without 
violating the truth in its letter, all that is required 
is for one simply to 2:0 abroad and unreservedlv 
laini all he knows, all that he has heard, and all 
that he believes. If one wishes to cause trouble and 
stir up strife, a readier way can scarcely be found. 

How often do we hear the harshest and severest 
pail ces justified by exclamations like this: " Well, 
what I have said is the truth, and if the truth hurts, 
then let it hurt ! " as though an injury were any less 
an injury, no matter by what means perpetrated; 
for truth, as well as falsehood, may be barbed with 
rity. Behold, I show you a " more excellent 
way;" truth sometimes may hurt, but love never; 
truth sometimes may wound, but love always seeks 
Co shield. 

It is an easy matter to find fault with others — 
easy to discover actual defects when we seek to find 
them, because the wisest and best of the children of 
men have their short-comings and imperfections. 
And how well it would be to remember that these 
faults may be the result of constitutional defects 
or improper education, and that those censured on 
their account may really be unconscious of them. 



188 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Or, in other cases, it may be they are themselves 
sensibly alive to them, are ofttimes so deeply morti- 
fied on account of them, that if the real 'facts of the 
case were understood, such would largely share our 
sympathies rather than our censure. 

In dwelling upon the faults of others, we are 
very liable to get into the wrong ourselves. Espe- 
cially is this the case when we feel that the tres- 
passes have been committed against us. We feel 
very sensitively and keenly any slights or personal 
wrongs to ourselves — insomuch that we are almost 
sure to overestimate their importance, and to un- 
derestimate the allowances that ought to be made 
in behalf of the offenders. 

The truth is, we will often find, on sober reflection, 
that the causes for many of those hard thoughts 
and heart-burnings which are so common are of 
no great importance in themselves, and that the 
easiest way to dispose of them is simply to dismiss 
them from the mind, and let them die of themselves. 
If they may not be thus easily disposed of, it is 
quite sure that to go abroad talking of them, and 
talking of them, is no way to find out the proper 
remedy. On the contrary, if necessity should seem 
to require that something should be said, some ex- 
planation had, then seek first a personal interview 
with the one who has aggrieved you; but let this 
be done alone, lest if attempted in the presence of 
others it be construed into a design to commit, in- 
timidate, or aggravate the case instead of reconcil- 
ing it. This is according to the direction of the 
Prince of Peace, and if done in a proper spirit, it 



The Tongue. 189 

will be wonderful if the whole matter is not easily 
reconciled. Nine times out of ten there will be 
an explanation not before thought of, a disavowal 
of intended wrong,, or a candid confession with an 
amende honorable. 

There is a reason that should not be forgotten 
why we should bear with the faults of others — 
this: we have them ourselves, and wish others to 
bear with us. Still another: God bears with us, and 
if in remembering this we bear with others, we may 
with more confidence look up and say: 

"The mercy I to others show 
That mercy show to me." 



PRAYER. 



"Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Luke xviii. 1. 

PRAYER is both a duty and a privilege. Our 
Lord frequently, urgently, and most encourag- 
ingly commends its importance. More than this. 
He has given us his own personal example; for he 
was much given to prayer, and besides has left on 
record a prayer itself, after the manner of which 
we also may model our prayers. I do not know 
whether the angels ever pray or not. I suppose 
they do not; wanting in nothing, they have noth- 
ing to pray for. I imagine their more direct ap- 
proaches to God consist in praises and tranksgiv- 
ings, for the ever new revealments of glory and the 
ever-recurring and ever-increasing measures of bliss, 
leading them on and up to high heights of wonder 
and surprising delights. I do not know whether 
the devils ever pray or not. I suppose they do n,ot. 
Having nothing to hope, nothing to expect, they 
have nothing to pray for; and indeed it is proba- 
ble that there is nothing within the range of Heav- 
en's gift that they desire. Utterly miserable in 
their dreary abode, yet such is their hatred toward 
God, and their aversion to every thing that is holy, 
that it is likely there is no gift within Heaven's 
keeping which they would accept. But the case 
of man is far different from that of either angels 
(190) 



Prayer. 191 

or devils. His present condition is far below that 
of the former, vastly above that of the latter. He 
does not fully comprehend the nature of good and 
evil, though he knows something of both. His 
condition is not so good but he sees how it might 
be a great deal better; not so bad but he sees how 
it might be a sreat deal worse. He realizes enough 
of good to excite desires for its far larger measure; 
enough of evil to dread its far greater increase; 
and the good that he so much desires is so nearly 
within his grasp that its attainment seems not only 
possible but highly probable; while many of the 
evils with which he is threatened are so contingent 
that he has every encouragement to seek their 
avoidance. His condition is seldom so forlorn as 
to be utterly without hope, while his highest eleva- 
tion only inspires him for still greater excellences. 
There is something, therefore, in the peculiar nature 
of his surroundings that points him to prayer as 
being specially applicable to his condition. Indeed, 
it is natural for him to cry for relief in the hour of 
extremity; not that of his own unassisted reason 
h^ could ever have discovered the nature and effi- 
cacy of prayer as revealed in God's word, but we 
may say that, once made known by revelation, the 
human mind instinctively grasps and appropriates 
the thought; even the most abandoned specimens 
of humanity, with rare exceptions, will grasp at it 
as a last means, in the hour of despair. 

Prayer is the means of God's appointment to 
meet this felt want of our nature; and it is thus 
that it becomes the chief instrument of man's pow- 



192 Sermons by A. P. McFbrrin. 

er, and indeed well-nigh the only resource of avail- 
able power left him in the rnany trying situations 
in which he is sure to find himself placed. He 
knows enough to know his wants, but has neither 
the power nor the wisdom to supply the lack; but 
prayer supplies the lack of all things. By prayer 
he prevails with God; and to prevail with God is 
to have the guidance of his wisdom and the pro- 
tection of his power. And to this end he is com- 
manded to pray, encouraged to pray as the first of 
duties, as the greatest of privileges. We must not, 
however, suppose that God has to be importuned 
and persuaded to make him willing to attend to the 
wants of his children, since it is clear that we are 
continually receiving unnumbered favors from him 
which we have never merited; whatever, therefore, 
may be the principles involved in prayer, they will 
not for a moment allow any such unworthy notions 
of God. It is enough for us to know that he has 
enjoined it as a duty, and permits it as a privilege. 
Prayer to God is not only right in itself, but while 
we thus secure the good that we so much need, we 
at the same time are on\y rendering him such hom- 
age and grateful recognition of his fatherly care as 
are ever his due; and since he exercises so pater- 
nal a care over us, it is meet that we should so far 
consult his will and show our appreciation of his 
goodness as to ask at his hands the favors we need 
and which he is so willing to bestow; and a refusal 
to comply with terms so reasonable, and in every 
way so honorable, is both wicked and ungrateful. 
In thus honoring God by praying unto him, we in 



Prayer. 193 

effect honor ourselves. Here, then, is God's ap- 
pointed means to which his special promises are 
pledged; and we may be assured that he will ever 
honor his own appointments. This is the basis 
upon which the Christian's prayers rest, whereby 
absolute failure becomes impossible. But it may 
be asked, Does this mean that all prayers, faithful 
and devout though they may be, are ansicered? 
Certainly so. Prayer which is in accordance with 
God's own appointment must, in the nature of the 
case, be successful. To suppose otherwise would 
be to suppose that God would not or could not meet 
his own engagements, which would involve the 
surrender of the entire matter. Prayer may not be 
answered in the way or manner or in the time an- 
ticipated, but those attending circumstances do not 
make the answer less certain. We may not receive 
the particular thing desired; nevertheless, in answer 
to the prayer, we will receive in its stead something 
else more suitable to our actual necessities. 

Properly directed petitions to the throne of grace 
always imply the condition that the granting of 
them be in accordance with the wisdom and will 
of God; otherwise, we might ask for that which if 
granted would prove really hurtful. A true devo- 
tion commits all concerns into God's hands; and 
this being done, all is made secure; for if by mis- 
apprehension we should ask that which would 
prove hurtful, he will give us something else better 
suited to our condition, or will give it such a direc- 
tion as to bring us only the good we desire. It is well 
for us, therefore ? to consider what we may pray for. 



194 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

and what we may not pray for. This is important, 
since it would be very foolish, not to say wicked, 
to ask any thing which would be wrong for us to 
have or unjust for God to give. We may not ask 
God to help us in any wicked thing, nor in that 
which would be unjust to others, nor in that which 
ministers only to vanity and selfishness. Heaven 
will enter into no partnership or sympathy with 
sensuality. But we are not to suppose that our 
prayers are therefore limited to any narrow bounds ; 
on the contrary, they may embrace all that really 
concerns us, whether for time or eternity — thus giv- 
ing us a wide, almost boundless range. Whatever* 
the Scriptures authorize — or is plainly inferable 
therefrom — we may pray for, and ask largely, being 
assured that if we receive not it is only because 
we u ask amiss." 

All that refers to the forgiveness of sins, the at- 
tainment of a holy heart, and the preparation for 
the life to come, is first in order and importance; 
and God's promises here are absolute and without 
contingencies, as assurances are given in advance 
that such petitions are so absolutely in accordance 
with his will that he that asks, receives; he that 
seeks, finds; unto him that knocks, the door is opened. 
In addition to these, our Lord has authorized us to 
pray for our daily bread; not to be led into tempta- 
tion ; for deliverance from evil; for the triumphs 
of the gospel. We may pray for certain persons — 
Peter was released from prison while his friends 
were engaged in praying for him; for the sick — he 
healeth all our diseases; for the prolongation of life 



Prayer. 195 

— Hezekiah's was prolonged in answer to prayer; 
for escape from the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
ness, and the destruction that wasteth at noonday: 
for our enemies to be made to be at peace with us; 
for prudence to guide our affairs with discretion; 
for rain, for fruitful seasons and abundant harvests; 
for magistrates and rulers; and indeed for all that 
really concerns us, whether for time or eternity. 

In view of our ever- recurring wants and our 
utter helplessness, we should joyfully commit all our 
interests into God's hands, and seek his help and 
guidance, since we have such assurance of his will- 
ingness to be a present help in every time of need. 
AVe ought, says Jesus, always to pray; and if our 
petitions seems not to be heard nor answered in the 
manner expected, still we should not faint — not 
abandon our suit at the mercy-seat; and this he en- 
courages us to do by illustrating the success of im- 
portunity in the case of the widow pleading her 
cause before the unjust judge who, though he 
feared not God nor regarded man, was at last over- 
come by the importunity of the poor widow. How 
much more shall we prevail with the God of in- 
finite goodness! There is power in importunity as 
between man and his fellow-man; and the encour- 
aging lesson he teaches is that it shall much more 
prevail with God, the Father of mercies. God will 
hear the prayer that is offered up to him with a 
devout, importuning, and trusting heart. The time, 
the way, the manner in which he may answer, and 
the means he may choose to bring about the answer, 
are matters we must confide to him. We do not 



196 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

know our real wants as he knows them; he may 
therefore give us something else than the thing for 
which we specially ask, as being far better to sup- 
ply the actual need. This is a most important con- 
sideration, aud should never be lost sight of if we 
would form correct views of this subject which 
most of all so seriously concerns us. And, by way 
of illustration, we will suppose the petition to be 
to prolong the life of the dear one who is lingering 
near death's door. Now, that God often does an- 
swer such petitions by restoring the health and. pro- 
lonffina: the life of dear ones, who have been the 
subject of importunate prayers, is a matter which 
we may not for a moment doubt; but not always so, 
else it would interfere with the wise arrangements 
of his government and the necessary dispensations 
of his providence. We would. so fondly cling to our 
dear ones, and thej r to us, as to keep us here for- 
ever, and thus defeat the beneficent purposes de- 
signed to be brought about in our behalf. Our im- 
portunities seem to fail, and the dear one dies; but 
have the prayers availed nothing? We cannot 
think so. The life we fondly hoped might be spared 
has indeed been taken away; but what a kind 
Heavenly Father may have done for the dying one, 
in answer to those prayers, in lighting up the vale 
of death, and giving triumph and glory in the try- 
ing hours, who may undertake to say? There are 
some things far better than life, some things far 
worse than dealh. He knows the most fitting time 
for his children to die, and how to make death a 
far greater blessing than the prolongation of a life 



Prater. 197 

on earth could be; and though prayer in behalf of 
the dying may seem to be unavailing, yet it shall 
ultimately appear that it has been answered, and in 
a way that shall rejoice the hearts of his trusting 
children and bring praise and glory to their Father 
in heaven. 

I am aware that these views will be regarded by 
some as extravagant, and be utterly repudiated by 
others. Unfortunately the subject of prayer is one 
that has never largely interested the world; and 
indeed there are comparatively but few who are ha- 
bitually and devoutly prayerful. There are many 
who scarcely think of praying till they find them- 
selves suddenly environed with perils and reduced 
to the saddest extremity; and then they pray not 
so much as a matter of choice, but because all other 
helps have failed them; and if God were as man, he 
would take such appeals — prompted not by love and 
reverence for himself, but only as a last resort — as 
an affront, from which he would turn away only to 
"laugh at the calamity and mock at the fear" of 
those who have no other use for prayer to God than 
as a last resort when all things else preferred before 
him have failed them. 

There are those who commend prayer, both by 
precept and personal example, and yet do not be- 
lieve in special answers thereto; and there seems to 
be a strong current of opinion in this direction, by 
which even some- Christian people are strongly af- 
fected. I have heard the declaration from such 
that they did not believe in special answers to prayer, 
since such an admission would imply the necessity 



198 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

of special providences; and as they cannot admit 
the verity of the latter, neither can they of the 
former. And indeed special answers to prayer and 
special providences must stand or fall together; the 
verity of the former necessarily implies that of the 
latter. Wherein, then, is the good of prayer? 
Such Christians will answer that its good is in pre- 
paring the mind and heart for a proper reception 
of the benefits which we receive, without reference 
to prayer as the cause of their procurement. That 
there is such a reflex good in prayer is not to be 
doubted; but surely prayer in its essential nature 
means far more than this. What do we pray for? 
Evidently for that which we have not, and which 
we may never have, unless our prayers are granted. ' 
This, in the nature of the case, is the essential idea 
involved in prayer. Unless this be so, wherein can 
we discover the pertinency of the parable of the 
importunate widow, which our Lord has given us 
in connection with the text, as an encouragement 
to pray and not to faint? Were the importunings 
of this poor widow only to properly prepare her 
for the awards of the unjust judge, who would in 
due time have attended to her cause without her 
asking? If the lesson taught is not that she suc- 
ceeded by her importunity, and because of her im- 
portunity, then it is difficult to discover what its 
intent is or can be. 

Prayer which excludes the idea or possibility of 
an answer is a misnomer. It may be on the part of 
him who offers it a mode of worship, but not prayer 
in the essential meaning of the term. God, who an- 



Prayer. 199 

swered Elijah's prayer by fire from heaven, as read- 
ily attends to the cry of his feeblest supplicant. 
This assurance is the talisman of the Christian's 
power, the precious gem of his faith, his last strong- 
hold when all other resources have failed; then, let 
no shadow of doubt, Christian, hinder you from 
coming boldly to the throne of the heavenly grace. 
There is yet another form of objection, which 
strongly rests its plea on the unchangeable perfec- 
tion of the Deity. "Wherefore/ 3 says the doubter, 
••should I pray? God is too wise to err, too good 
to do wrong, so that whatever is. is for the best; 
and if ray prayer should change his purpose, then 
such change would not be for the best." Truth, 
but not the whole truth. God's dispensations 
toward man are always right, and, under the cir- 
cumstances and according to the principles involved, 
for the best, even if the result were the consigning 
of a soul to perdition. But circumstances may be 
changed, and other principles in the divine gov- 
ernment may be brought to bear on the case, so as to 
make the opposite result for the best; and prayer 
is just the thing that changes the whole aspect of 
the case. If the sentence of destruction is best for 
unrepentant and prayerless Nineveh, then the revok- 
ing of that sentence is best for repentant and pray- 
ing Xineveh. Ananias, the man of God, hesitated 
to go to the rescue of Saul of Tarsus, the maddened 
persecutor of the brethren; but when he was 
told " Behold he prayeth," the aspect of the case 
wa& ?o entirely changed that he gladly went, ex- 
tending, now, the salutation of " Brother Saul/' 



200 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

And to say of any sorrowing child of Adam, " Be- 
hold he prayeth," is sufficient to change the dispen- 
sation of Heaven toward that soul. 

Prayer, in the nature of things, is supposed to 
enter more or less into the exercises of worship, 
whether public, social, or private. There are those 
who are happily gifted as leaders in the exercises 
of public worship; and it is a peculiar talent that 
may be turned to a most useful account. There is 
much undeveloped talent of this sort, and the 
Church has need for it all. Social prayer is en- 
couragingly commended by our Lord, the promise 
being that where two or three are gathered to- 
gether in his name he will be in their midst; and 
that if two shall agree as touching any thing they 
shall ask, it shall be done. It affords the occasion 
for the exercise of the liveliest faith, and for the 
development of our purest sympathies — especial- 
ly in visiting the sick and offering them the con- 
solations of oar prayers in their behalf. Family 
prayer also constitutes an important and interesting 
feature of social prayer, by which an altar may be 
erected in every household and our hearths and 
homes thereby become consecrated to God. The 
strength and virtue of a nation find their chief 
support in the sacredness of its households, and the 
importance of home altars and home piety cannot 
be overestimated. It is, however, in private or 
secret prayer that the true test of all piety is to be 
found. The demand here is absolute, and embraces 
every living soul that is possessed of capacity to 
comprehend the nature and duty of the demand. 



Prayer. 201 

It is the main-spring that moves every other wheel. 
So long as the Christian is faithful here he will be 
faithful everywhere else; but deficient here, he will 
be efficient nowhere. There is no place this side of 
heaven where we can make so near and sacred ap- 
proach to God as in the closet of secret prayer. It 
is an invitation, an engagement for personal, special 
communings with God, and of his own appoint- 
ment, where he will lend his ear and loving-kind- 
ness to our special private concerns. While we on 
our part shut to the door, thus guarding against 
all earthly intrusion, approaching the mercy-seat 
in secret, the " Father, which is in secret," makes 
the engagement confidential; and we need have no 
fear that angel or devil will be allowed to enter the 
sacred precinct — a sacred precinct which is reserved 
by God unto himself, and where our griefs and sor- 
rows, hopes and fears, which no ear on earth or in 
heaven may hear, may be freely and unreservedly 
confided to him. The dearest of friends may come 
near unto us, but there are intervening confines into 
which even they nor any created being, as we may 
believe, can enter — constituting that holy of holies 
where God is pleased to grant communings unto 
his trusting and confiding children. the con- 
descension and loving-kindness of our Heavenly 
Father! 

Prayer is the Christian's instrument of power; a 
rod in his hand, which ever blossoms before the 
Lord; a talisman, at whose touch all enemies shall 
be overcome and all difficulties shall vanish away. 
How these things can be is a matter far out of the 



202 Sermons by A. P. McFerrxn.- 

reach of " science falsely so called/' but well assured 
unto him who is the possessor of " the wisdom 
which is from above;" it is that peculiar " secret 
of the Lord/' confided only to " them that fear 
him." 



FRETTING. 



"Fret not thyself because of evil-doers." Psalm xxxvii. 1. 

OUR world, after all, would be a beautiful and 
delightful dwelling-place, if it were not for its 
evil-doers, who are always ready to pull down and 
destroy as fast as the wise and good are able to 
build up. Yes, but for them the rest of life's evils 
would be quite supportable. Moderate labor, skill- 
fully directed, will, under the blessing of Heaven, 
give bread plenty and to spare, while the labor 
itself only serves to contribute to healthfullness of 
body and cheerfulness of mind. Even the suffering 
caused by sickness need not render one altogether 
miserable, since it finds so many palliations in the 
sympathies of kind friends, and the soothing, heal- 
ing restoratives that nature so bountifully provides. 
Nature's evils are seldom fierce, and wisdom by 
gentle means will greatly abate their force. So, but 
for the evil-doer, what a type of heaven every house- 
hold might become — how the society of mortals be- 
low might resemble the community of angels above! 
But no; it cannot be. Just as long-cherished 
hopes are about to be matured, and the last desires 
of the heart realized, in steps the evil-doer and up- 
sets all. And it seems impossible to avoid him. 
He meets you at every turn and corner, and no 
sphere of life is exempt from his intrusion ; he seeks 

(203) 



204 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

the acquaintance of every household, and inter- 
meddles in the affairs of every community. He con- 
trives to get into office, and wears the honors that 
others have won ; rides upon the high places of 
earth; is heard in the halls where wisdom holds her 
councils, and rather than the world should never 
hear from him at all, might even be tempted to join 
the Church. In the planning of every enterprise, in 
the carrying out of every arrangement, in the in- 
dulgence of every expectation, one must first strike 
off a heavy discount, and make large allowances 
for the part he will act, the annoyances he will 
cause. He is a clog on every wheel that moves, an ' 
eating canker that never says "I am satisfied. 7 The 
wise and good of every generation have felt the 
plague of his presence; and what seems to lend 
aggravation to the case is that he glories in his 
annoyances, and sometimes triumphs thereby with 
an abundant prosperity. 

Society is a necessity of man's nature. Through 
society he derives the purest and most delightful 
enjoyments that earth can give; and yet it is 
through the same medium that come the chief 
troubles and vexations of life. The atmosphere 
that measures out to us the breath of life some- 
times becomes also the vehicle that brings to us the 
seeds of disease; and our bodies, which with their 
every sense become so great a source of enjoy- 
ment, also give us occasional evidence of their great 
capacity for suffering; but we hopefully endure the 
one for the much greater good afforded by its coun- 
terpart. And so of society: it is a web from the 



Fketong. 205 

entanglements of which we cannot, even if we would, 
igage ourselves: and while its sources of vex- 
ation remain, patience will never cease to be a much- 
:ted virtue. 

Even if our children were always such, and only 
such, as our minds approved and our hearts desired, 
just outside of these are other relationships — 
servants, employes, agents — that will, despite every 
safeguard, disarrange our plans and jeopardize 
our interests: while still outside of these stands 
the keen-eyed and more accomplished evil-doer, 
ready to enter in at the first door that chances to 
be left open. Surrounded, therefore, with circum- 
stances of so aggravating a character, with so much 
that is calculated to try the patience, it is scarcely to 
be wondered at that one should occasionally be 
found in a fretful mood. * 

Indeed, it may be asked how one can be ex- 
ected to keep from fretting. Ah, yes; you may 
hear one say: ; -I do fret: and let others talk as they 
may, but if they had to put up with what I do, and 
had to endure what I have to endure, they would 
fret too." 

After all, petty annoyances are just the ones over 
which we are most liable to fret. They are of so 
common occurrence that we do not nerve ourselves 
to bear them as we feel called upon to do with such 
as are of rare occurrence and of far more serious 
concern: besides, those of a more trivial character 
are constantly coming up, and there are no safe- 
guards by which they can be entirely avoided. 

Xone meet with more of these, perhaps, than the 



206 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

mistress of the household. Habit and taste have 
led her to regard neatness and order as indispen- 
sable, while household affairs, being made up of so 
many details and numerous items, render these all 
the more difficult. 

With servants heedless and perverse, the situation 
often becomes peculiarly trying. The gate is left 
open when it should have been shut, and the cattle 
o;et in and break down the shrubberv; mud is 
brought in the house when it certainly should have 
been left out-doors; if a fit of perverseness comes 
over the cook, it is almost sure to be at the wrong 
time, and quite likely when there is company for 
dinner. Besides, valuables are destroyed, and arti- 
cles, now and then, are ascertained to be missing; 
and though store-room and wardrobe be vigilantly 
guarded by lock and key, yet it is by no means cer- 
tain that all is going on right. 

And what of the situation of the master of the 
homestead? Perhaps only a little less trying, if 
possible. Indeed, the master sometimes thinks he 
has got about as much as he can stand, or is going 
to put up with, and that if matters go much far- 
ther in the way they have been tending, somebody 
will get hurt. With all his vigilant oversight, every 
thing is constantly getting out of joint and tending to 
wreck. The provender is wasted, and the stock im- 
poverished. A gap, somehow, has been made in the 
fence at the back of the field, and strangely hap- 
pened about the time some guerrilla stock were 
passing and just ready to enter. And let him but 
so much as turn his back, and business generally 



Fretting. 207 

slacks. Nor is the matter much mended when he 
goe^ abroad to look after his affairs. He is strict 
to his engagements as to time and place, but the 
other party fails to come. Money that is due him, 
and which he ought to have, he cannot get; those 
who owe cannot or will not pay. When he wishes 
to buy, the highest cash price is demanded; but 
what he has to sell nobody appears to want, un- 
less on a credit, with little prospect of ever paying 
for it. 

And so it is in every sphere and department of 
human affairs. The foregoing will serve as illustra- 
tions, because of their more familiar character; but 
something of the same nature is common to every 
allotment, for there is no calling nor pursuit of life 
exempt from its annoyances and vexations. Aud 
because no absolute remedy has been found for 
these evils, many, as the only resource left them, 
have been led into the habit of fretting over them. 
The best antidote is patience. There is nothing so 
much as patience that gives one that entire self-pos- 
session which will at least elevate him above the con- 
trol of these evils, so that if he cannot entirely sub- 
due them, he is not governed by them. But not so 
with the fretter; he signs away his freedom, and be- 
comes subjugated by the evils which so much annoy 
him. 

Fretting is a habit easilv gotten into, and if not 
resisted when the provocation seems to justify it, the 
habit may soon become so firmly fixed as to prove 
a sore evil; for the habit once "established leads one 
to fret not onlv when the cause is great, but also 



208 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

when it is small, and by and by when there is nc 
cause at alb It degenerates into a fault-finding 
disposition, which is hard to please. And the re- 
sult will be the loss of self-control, self-government; 
and those who cannot govern themselves need never 
expect to succeed in governing others. 

It is thus that some people become rigid in their 
exactions and unreasonable in their demands, cen- 
suring where they ought to forbear, and blaming 
where no blame is. They fail to discriminate be- 
tween those failures that result from perverseness 
and those caused merely by incapacity or natural 
infirmity. 

Perfection, or any thing nearly approaching it, 
need not be expected in any sphere of life. 

Servants will sometimes blunder and fail when 
the intention was otherwise, and our associates 
will cause trouble and loss from sheer aberration of 
mind. 

The habitual fretter loses sight of all such dis- 
criminations, forgetting that fretting only aggra- 
vates the evils it would remedy. There is an old 
rhyme, somewhat homely, that pretty well expresses 
the spirit with which these annoyances should be 
met. It runs somewhat thus: 

For every evil under the sun 
There is a remedy, or there is none; 
If there be one, seek it, find it ; 
If there be none — then never mind it. 

The habit of fretting once firmly fixed becomes 
really a misfortune. * There is scarcely any thing so 
inuch in the way of one's own happiness and that 



Fretting. 209 

of everybody else. It is a waster of life, a destroyer 
of health, and incompatible with that cheerfulness 
of spirit that so much contributes to the sunshine 
of social life. And finally, more than all, it proves 
incongenial to the Christian spirit, clouds the pa- 
tience of faith, clogs the labors of love, sours the 
temper, destroys the sweetness of the affections, and 
smothers that love, peace, and joy which are ever 
the rightful heritage of the Christian. 
14 



THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA, 



"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are 
ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." 
Revelation iii. 2. 

THE seven churches which are in Asia," to 
whom this wonderful book ("The Revela- 
tion") is addressed, had been planted by the apos- 
tles and early evangelists, and had become the great 
centers of gospel light and religious influence; and 
thus they were appointed the custodians of these 
divine messages concerning the " things which must 
shortly come to pass."' They were coming events 
which would severely test their fidelity. The up- 
heavals and commotions in human affairs, of which 
they are hereby forewarned, would vitally affect the 
fortunes of these churches, as well as have their 
bearings in shaping the destiny of Christianity. 
The warnings, instructions, encouragements given 
in these letters were not, as we may feel assured, 
designed alone for the special churches therein 
named, but also for the benefit of all others who 
might succeed them in the generations to come, 
since the watchful care and guiding hand of Him 
who hath said, "Lo, I am with you alway," are no 
less needful now than then. 

It is indeed a sad condition of a Christian people 
when, out of seven influential churches hitherto 
(210) 



The Seven Churches of Asia. 211 

blessed with great prosperity, there are but two to 
be found that receive the unmixed approval of Christ, 
in whose name alone they had professed to act. But 
unfortunately the like sad condition has had its 
repetition throughout subsequent times. And a 
commendable self-examination would suggest the 
earnest inquiry whether ourselves, under the search- 
ings of Him whose "eyes are as a flame of fire,'' 
are free from all the derelictions urged against these 
recreant churches. 

We hear the Apostle Paul say to the Galatians, 
" Ye did run well;" but then he asks in a saddened 
tone, " Who did hinder you?" Yes, ran well for a 
season; but then came the lapse, and came just as 
all lapses come. Humility is the condition essen- 
tial to the growth and prosperity of any church. 
Humility leads the train of the Christian graces, 
and if banished as a guest no longer welcome, faith, 
hope, and charity inevitably follow suit. 

By small beginnings, amidst threatened dangers 
and the menacing frowns of an opposing world, 
these churches had w T orked their way onward and 
upward, though ofttimes under a sense of fear and 
trembling. But such untoward surroundings drew 
the worshipers the more closely together in the 
bonds of sympathy and sacred fellowship, with a 
felt sense of reliance on Him who has promised to 
be a present help in every time of need. The moral 
force engendered in such a hallowed atmosphere 
overcomes all obstacles and triumphs over all diffi- 
culties. The gratifying result will ever be rapid 
growth in numbers, wealth, influence; and as sue- 



212 Sermons by A. P. McFerbin. 

cess demonstrates itself the oppositions of the world 
abate, and there the new danger is to be encoun- 
tered — the loss of humility, ever followed by an 
abatement of spirituality — thence, the down grade 
to a lapsed condition is easy and speedy. 

If we had the main facts concerning the decline 
and corruptive influences which have dismantled 
the great churches whose wrecks are visible along 
the track of history, we should doubtless find that 
the fatal destroyer crept in just where self-adulation 
became boastful and self-reliant because of numbers, 
wealth, worldly patronage, to the obscuring of the 
recognized presence of Christ and that felt depend- 
ence upon him without whom they can do nothing, 
And just here, let us "hear what the Spirit saith" 
to one of these seven churches thus lulled into car- 
nal security: "I know thy works. . . Thou sayest, 
I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need 
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretch- 
ed, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." 

We must not suppose that the warnings ad- 
dressed to these churches of Asia were for their sole 
benefit; nay, they are of like concern to all the 
churches of subsequent times. For what happened 
to them has befallen many others, and our own 
times might furnish lamentable examples of the 
same sort. Let us therefore note some of the 
important items gathered therefrom, in which we 
have a direct and personal interest. Who is it that 
speaks to us? It is the risen, ascended Christ — he 
that "was dead," but now is " alive for evermore." 
Perhaps no mortal eye was ever permitted to be- 



The Srvi:x Churches or Asia. 213 

hold so grand and sublime a panorama as was af- 
forded the beloved John on that "Lord's- day" 
when he "was in the Spirit*'' and "heard a great 
voice'" bidding him to -write in a book" what he 
should ^see. On looking he saw seven golden can- 
dlesticks, representing the seven churches: and 
seven stars, representing the angels or ministers of 
those churches. As the use of candlesticks or lamps 
is for affording light, so Jesus, while yet on earth, 
had instructed his disciples that they were the light 
of the world, and as such were to let this light 
shine; and when a church ceases to let its light 
shine, its legitimate claim to be a church of Christ 
also ceases. And as stars serve as a guide by night 
to direct the course of the traveler through the 
trackless desert, or the sailor when afloat on the 
waste of waters, so ministers are, or should be. guides 
in the way that leads to eternal life, insomuch that 
they may truly say to their flocks. "Follow us as 
we follow Christ."'* As the brightest day owes its 
splendor to the shining of the unclouded sun in the 
heavens, so the vision here portrayed owes its awe- 
inspiring glory to the presence of One like unto the 
"Son of man" whose -countenance was as the sun 
shineth in his strength,"' whom John saw in the 
midst of these churches. 

While yet on earth in the midst of his disciples, 
Jesus had promised them that where two or three 
should be assembled in his name he would be with 
them, and should be thus i; alway. even unto the end 
of the world;*' so here he is in the midst of the 
churches, with " eyes as a flame of fire," search- 



214 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

ing the hearts of those who have professed thus 
to assemble in his name. Surely a backslidden 
church would be stricken with tremors could they 
but fully realize that he, in whose name they had 
congregated as professed worshipers, was in the 
midst to see and hear all that was to occur. Yes, 
there to see how he who stands forth as his min- 
ister shall dispense the word of life; to hear the 
hymns of praise professedly offered up to him, and 
to note whether the melody thereof is simply from 
the lips or looms up from the swellings of grateful 
hearts. And he will observe the bowed heads of 
those who signify thereby their devout confessions 
and petitions before the throne of grace, and will 
not fail to discern how much of it is lip-service or 
listless silence; or how much, if any, is evolved from 
the depths of devout hearts; or how much of the 
whole service is as a matter of form, and how much, 
if any, is "in spirit and in truth." here is a les- 
son that Christians should deeply take into their 
hearts. Shall we come to the appointed place for 
public worship in a perfunctory way, without sol- 
emnly pondering the fact that our meeting together 
will be under the inspection of Him who has "the 
keys of hell and death?" Xext to the closet, the 
place of secret communion where the Christian re- 
plenishes his outfit for the heavenly world, the house 
of God — the appointed place where Christ has en- 
gaged to meet his worshipers — ought to be the most 
delightful place on earth, the very gate of heaven; 
and every Christian should anticipate the coming 
hour as fruitful of blessing to every waiting soul. 



The Seven Churches of Asia. 215 

Then would the heart be made glad at the an- 
nouncement: "Let us go into the house of the 
Lord/' 

The aggregate piety of any church is of course 
made up of that of the individual members, and 
Christ is observant of the special state of each one. 
He is the Good Shepherd, and knoweth his own 
sheep so well that "he calleth them by name;" and 
in the indictments brought against these churches, 
he did not omit to mention that there were "a few 
names," ever true and faithful, awaiting the honor 
of " walking with him in white." Yes, "a few 
names" who had resisted the rising tide which 
threatened to bear away every thing before it, and 
had likely incurred a large measure of disesteem on 
that account. Thank God that there are always "a 
few names" to be found, under the most adverse 
surroundings, ever true, whether through evil or 
good report, and when all is well-nigh lost consti- 
tute a nucleus for a new formation of more hopeful 
outcome. 

I am glad that the risen and ascended Christ, who 
once tabernacled with men, " a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief," is to be my final Judge; for 
I find' in the warnings and exhortations addressed 
to his unfaithful followers the same tone of forbear- 
ance, long-suffering, and sympathy manifested while 
yet in the flesh. The recital of their short-comings, 
their backslidings, their tainted unfaithfulness, is 
not unmixed with the out-beamings of compassion. 
Much, indeed, are they to be blamed, but still there 
is the savor of pity for them in their wretched con- 



216 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

dition. That they may not be hopelessly discour- 
aged, special mention is made and due credit given, 
and ample commendation bestowed, for whatever 
of truth and well-doing, however little it may be, 
which they still possess; while hope for restoration 
to the height whence they had fallen is held out, 
by a hearty repentance and a. speedy reformation. 
Surely, if nothing else will avail, the very goodness 
of God should lead us to a speedy repentance. 

The following awe-inspiring words are repeated 
in each epistle sent to these seven churches: "He 
that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches." Let us therefore, 
in candor and with becoming humility, consider a 
few 7 of the specifications set forth against some of 
these churches; for they are such as might probably 
apply to many of the churches of to-day; and if 
also to us, here and now, the sooner we see and feel 
the charge to be true the better for us. If, however, 
the inquiry should result in the inapplicability of 
any of these charges to us, then, with grateful hearts 
for the grace by which we have escaped them, we 
may take courage, thank God, and press forward 
with unfailing watchfulness, that we may ever be 
guarded against the same errors. 

I will mention only three of these charges, but 
they are just the ones with which any church is 
liable to be dangerously menaced. 

First. "Thou hast left thy first love." 

We all know what that means — the love we had 
when we first found peace in believing, and the 
thrilling realization of His presence as a precious 



The Seven Churches or Asia. 217 

Saviour. How abounding the love! how transport- 
ing the joy! How heartily we could join in singing 
the familiar song, 

WIi ; : w : Q ; ■ : - ; 3 loye i> this ! 

Such was "thy first love:'' and the exultation it 
inspired was highly becoming. You had beeu 
plucked as a brand from the burning; lifted from 
the mire and clay, and brought into a large and 
wealthy place, and a new song put into your mouth, 
even praises to the God of your salvation. No other 
event of human life leaves so vivid an impress on 
the mind. Old age, which so much dims the mem- 
ories of the past, leaves no blur here, but as a heav- 
enly provision ofttimes serves as a candle shining 
upon the head of him who is called to walk through 
dark places. But though undimmed by age, the iov 
of first love may be obscured by unfaithfulness, and 
forcing back itself into memory, in the more solemn 
moods of the mind, brings with it. instead of its 
former iovs. onlv an aching void within. "When 
Peter denied his Lord, one look from Jesus — only a 
look — was enough to cause him to weep bitterly. 
So there is something in this complaint, ; * Thou 
hast left thy first love." so penetrating, so barbed 
with jealous love, and withal so tender, that it 
would seem to be enough to break the heart of him 
who had so aggrieved the best friend he ever had, 
whether on earth or in heaven. In human associa- 
tions, the keenest and unkiudest cut of all is a dis- 
covery of the abatement of first love on the part of 
him whose plighted love was confirmed by sacred 



218 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

vows as strong as the honor of earth and the wit- 
ness of heaven could make them. how the sad 
victim of such a slight withers under the anguish 
of disappointment and mortification! — a wound 
inflicted by a faithless one, whose withering blight 
ofttimes finds its cessation only in an early grave. 
shame, where is thy blush? 

But the Lord had not abandoned the church, nor 
the church wholly abandoned their Lord, to whom 
this complaint was made. Their fall had been great, 
but as yet they were not entirely wrecked; much is 
lost, but something still is left to which hope may 
cling. Their Lord is pitiful and full of mercy. He 
will not crush the bruised reed nor quench the 
smoking flax. Nevertheless, the emergency is press- 
ing; the present condition of things cannot longer 
remain as it is. There is but one way open to^escape 
the present environment, and that must be speedily 
adopted, viz.: "Kepent, and do the first works; or 
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove 
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou re- 
pent." Then, 

Hasten, sinner, to be wise; 
Stay not for the morrow's sun ; 

for if the remaining licrht that is in thee become 
darkness, how great shall the darkness be! 

" Be watchful, and strengthen the things which 
remain, that are ready to die." Yes, " strengthen 
the things which remain;" and we know well 
enough what that means. Behold that one who is 
in waning health. Pale and feeble, the tide of life 
is already reduced to a sluggish flow; and unless 



The Seven Churches of Asia. 219 

there be an early change for the better, the little 

that is left must soon die. Ah I note the carefulness 

with which the remaining strength is nursed and 

sought to be invigorated, to build up again the 

wonted health. This of the body; how much more 

f the spiritual life which is ebbing away, ready 

to die — a dying which may soon terminate in death 

nal? Then, be watchful — begin now. Cherish 

the light that is left you, otherwise there is nothing 

ond but outer darkne 

Second. The next charge we note applies to the 
- mings of another class, and is stated as fol- 

w&: "Beet m art lukewarm^ and neither cold 

t of my mouths 

"Lukewarm, neither cold nor hot 5? — tepid. Water 
in that condition is only drank as a counter-irritant 
to promote spewing. And one resting in so un- 
seemly a condition, whether as a member of the 
Church or of society, places himself almost outside 
of the common sympathies of life. We can scarcely 
help turning away with disgust at the thought of a 
lukewarm friendship, which indeed is no friendship 
at all. We could more patiently bear with a glar- 
ing fault than with such insipidity. An outright 
backslidden state is indeed a mournful condition to 
i 3 but there is some relief in the fact that the 
shamefacedness of the backslider shows that there 
ifi -::11 life enough in him for a hopeful foundation 
on which to build a reformation; but such are the 
perplexing uncertainties environing the lukewarm 
professor that one can only stand dumbfounded be- 
fore them. He is not cold enough to die, and not hot 



220 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

enough to live. Death does not want him yet, and 
life cannot endure him much longer. The world 
does not claim him, and the Church cannot use 
him. His situation is such as to excite the nausea 
even of the long-suffering of heaven. 

This state of the case must soon terminate. The 
tide of events is sweeping onward, before which 
every sandy foundation shall be upheaved and 
hurled over the brink of ruin. Life and its supreme 
issues will not admit of such indifference to the in- 
tense realities which beset the pathway of every 
traveler through this world. Despite himself he is 
moving on and onward to new conditions, and, if 
having a common regard for his own safety, should 
not criminally neglect to use his eyes to see whither 
he is tending, and his ears to, hear the admonitions 
so faithfully warning him of his perils. He is self- 
deceived, and the purpose of these^signals of danger 
is to strip off the mask behind which he vainly en- 
deavors to conceal himself. It is the voice of Him, the 
Friend of sinners, whose amazing love he has requit- 
ed with lukewarmness, that still pursues him to arrest 
his attention to the impending calamity with which 
he is threatened; and as a faithful monitor even now 
"stands at the door and knocks," if perchance His 
voice will he heard and the door opened to receive 
him. O if he will but open the door and receive 
the Heavenly Guest, then the remissness of the past 
will be canceled, and under the quickening impulses 
of renewed love his heart shall swell with grateful 
adoration unto Him whose " mercy endureth for- 
ever." 



The Seven Churches of Asia. 221 

mention of only one more count in the in- 
orient must suffice. It is one that seems to leave 
ler hope for the fallen church against 
whom it is brought. But with God all things are 
ssible; and the hope still held out to the delin- 
: its is a lively illustration of the possibilities of 
that go* :. which is the power of God unto salva- 
is the charge: "I know thy works, that 
ft a I the ~. art dead." 

: that once fervent Christian life all that is left 
— all else is dead. Then, is there no hope? 
tch .... see if there yet be some warm spot, 
some remnant of good desires, some intimations 
: Dscionsness which still survives, by which the 
breath of life may again flow back as to the valley 
: iry bone-. u Great and marvelous are thy works, 
Lord God Almisrhty/ 3 And is not the greatest of 
se the work of making a heaven of saints out 
. world tiers : Xo wonder the angels 

ire to look into this marvelous problem. 
The material rat of which the seven churches of 
Asia were built was likely a fair average of that 
rf subsequent churches. The long-suffering of the 
S n of man, as seen in these seven churches, has 
neither become exhausted nor abated during the 
tedious ges from then till now, nor disgusted with 
I : monotony of backslidden churches and recreant 
ristians. There is a strength in weakness which 
we are slow to perceive, and possibilities open before 
as >f which we are singularly unmindful. The evils 
: : this present world ofttiraes may seem to be in- 
surmountable, and yet every message to the seven 



222 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

churches of Asia — and meant for the benefit of all 
churches of all times as well — points to indescriba- 
ble glories for him that "overcometh." Yes, over- 
come — this is the watch-word for every church, for 
every Christian, till the hastening day when the 
Captain of our salvation shall stand before an ad- 
miring universe, and we, through him, as more than 
conquerors. 



ABRAHAM'S LIFE OF FAITH. 



"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place 
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he 
went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in 
the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles 
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 
for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
maker is God." Hebrews xi. 8-10. 

BIOGRAPHY constitutes an important and in- 
teresting feature of the literature of any peo- 
ple. It is quite natural that one should indulge 
his curiosity to learn something of the personal 
habits and manner of life of those who have arrested 
the general attention of the world, and passed their 
names down to the ages succeeding. This is true 
of biography in general, and none the less so of 
that of a sacred kind. Indeed, the Holy Scriptures 
furnish us the very best specimens of this sort any- 
where to be had. The characters therein portrayed 
are so graphically delineated, so faithfully photo- 
graphed, in all their lights and shades, whether of 
virtue or depravity, as to invest each name thus pre- 
sented us with such personal identity as to be readily 
recognized and easily remembered. Would we have 
a picture of true dignity in the midst of misfortune 
and patient suffering? the case of Job will furnish 
it. Would we have an illustration of the happiest 
combination of human greatness and the modesty 

(223) 



224 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

of weakness? we have it in the life and character 
of Moses. "Would we ascertain the highest exalta- 
tion possible to earthly fortune and human glory? 
we have but to turn to the records furnished of Solo- 
mon. While in David we have the illustrious ruler, 
one who in this respect was after God's own heart, 
but what is still more, the sweet singer of Israel, 
whose melodies have thrilled the hearts of God's 
people through every successive generation, even to 
this day and hour. But Abraham appears to us 
as differing in many respects from them all. He is 
presented before us as one illustrious for his faith, 
insomuch that by way of preeminence he is called 
"the father of the faithful." We are familiar with 
such appellations^ "the people of God," " the man 
of God," "the servant of God," but in Abraham we 
are introduced to him who w r as called "the friend of 
God; " and if one is to be judged of by his associa- 
tions and friendships, what mark of honor, what 
badge of distinction is comparable to that of being 
everywhere recognized and pointed at as the known 
friend of God? 

It is observable that in most of the portraitures 
furnished us in the Scriptures, there is something 
in almost every case to detract from the complete- 
ness and excellency of the picture presented to us 
— some spot, some blemish, some drear shadow in 
the background, to mar its beauty and perfectibility. 
The extravagances of a David, the backslidings of a 
Solomon, the rashness of even a godly Moses, will be 
sufficient to indicate the nature of what is meant. 
But we may come to the investigation of Abraham's 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 225 

character without any such fears. There are no 
discounts to be made here, no forbidding shadows 
in the background to mar the beauty and excellency 
of the picture. We do not forget, even in his case, 
that the relation which he bore to certain of his 
household, and his having on more than one oc- 
casion come near involving himself in difficulties 
for having represented Sarah his wife as being 
his sister — who, indeed, was his half sister — may be 
construed to his disadvantage. But in remember- 
ing these, we should also take into the account the 
manners and customs of his time, and the necessa- 
rily imperfect condition of society in so rude and 
immature an age; and for his having concealed the 
real relation which he bore to Sarah from those 
whom he suspected of treachery, the most perhaps 
that need be said of it is that he evinced a great 
degree of caution — the result, it may be, of misap- 
prehension or of unnecessary fears. Be all this as 
it may, there are some facts to be kept in view in 
making up our estimates of Abraham; and one of 
these is that goodness, moral goodness, constitutes 
the chief adorning of human greatness. Human 
greatness devoid of goodness is but the great- 
ness of the monster. And we are led to prize 
Abraham's character not on account of a few prom- 
inent traits which stand out in bold relief at the 
expense of many virtues, as is often the case, but 
rather because of its consistency, its symmetry, its 
even balances and adjustments as a whole. He was 
a burning and a shining light in his day and gen- 
eration ; yet the light that beamed forth from his 
15 



226 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

character was not so much after the manner of that 
which sparkles and dazzles, but rather the genial 
and mellow T light that gilds and fringes with 
golden hue the dark clouds which hang along the 
horizon. Another fact: he who maintains his 
integrity toward God will always prove faithful to 
his fellow-man, for the true friend of God is also the 
true friend of man ; and considered in either respect, 
whether as the friend of God or as the friend of 
man, he will always be found the same consistent, 
reliable, faithful Abraham. Witness his hospital- 
ity in entertaining strangers, his generosity in the 
controversy which arose between his herdsmen and 
those of Lot; witness his fidelity and his personal 
courage in pursuing after the confederate kings to 
rescue his friend and relative Lot, who had fallen 
into their hands as a prisoner; witness his disinter- 
ested benevolence when he stood up before Jehovah 
and in an unheard of manner pleaded in behalf of 
his wretched and outlawed neighbors, the people of 
Sodom and Gomorrah ; witness the self-respect and 
dignity with which he bore himself toward the 
petty kings and nations among whom he sojourned, 
a beautiful example of which you will find in the 
transaction for the purchase of the field and cave 
of Machpelah in which to bury the remains of his 
deceased and beloved Sarah. These may be regarded 
as comparatively small matters, but they are just 
such as must be taken into the account in making 
up a correct estimate; for the small items of every- 
day life, rather than the great ones, are after all 
such as furnish us with the clearest and most un- 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 227 

mistakable index to human character; and Abra- 
ham's is just such as ever invites the closest and 
minutest investigation. 

So much for Abraham as a man of the world, 
a citizen and member of community, as he acted 
out his part in his day and generation. "We now 
come to contemplate him in the higher and superior 
position assigned him in the text, as an ensample of 
our faith; and as such we have a peculiar interest 
'in him, something like that which arises from per- 
sonal considerations of family pride; for if we are 
Christians, then are we, in a certain and interesting 
sense, accounted to be the children of Abraham. 
And if we are Christians, we are so because of our 
faith, and because that faith is after the model 
and pattern of Abraham's. It therefore becomes a 
matter of interest to us to ascertain the peculiari- 
ties of his faith, the principles upon which it was 
founded, and the secret of its saving efficacy, and 
by comparing it with the faith which actuates us, 
see if we thereby maintain the general family like- 
ness. 

Let us for a moment recur to some of those gen- 
eral declarations made by the inspired writer, which 
the text, and indeed this whole chapter, seems de- 
signed to substantiate and illustrate. He tells us 
that the just shall live by faith; which shows us 
that faith is the foundation on which all the other 
Christian virtues rest; that without it it is impos- 
sible to please God; that by it God's people have 
been enabled to subdue kingdoms, work righteous- 
ness, to endure as seeing Him that is invisible; and 



228 Sermons by A. P. McFerre*. 

that by it they overcame the world and died in 
faith — which shows us something of its saving 
power. And by way of enforcing and illustrating 
these important declarations, he brings to our atten- 
tion many notable cases, and among the rest that 
of Abraham. 

One of the chief peculiarities of Abraham's faith. 
to which our attention is called, is that it was man- 
ifested in that he obeyed. Whatever else, then, 
may be said of it. it was such a faith as was in 
harmony with the spirit of obedience. The pres- 
ence of the one implies that of the other: if not in 
the "oldness of the letter." then surely in the " new- 
ness of the spirit 7 ' — that is. a genuine faith must 
be accompanied by a willingness, a sincere desire to 
obey God. And this obedience must be of such a 
nature as to show itself not only in the general 
course of life, but such as will be maintained under 
difficulties, though it should call for sacrifices, hard- 
ships, and trials of severest test. And right here 
is the whole gist of Abraham's faith and obedience. 
He obeyed under difficulties and under circum- 
stances that cost him dearly. We shall have a 
clearer view of this fact by referring to his history 
as given us in Genesis, with the additions and ex-^ 
planations furnished us in the Xew Testament. 
Putting these together, the view of his case is some- 
thing like this: Abraham at a muture age was still 
dwelling in the land of his nativity, a goodly coun- 
try, affording him many pleasing surroundings. 
His ancestry were there, with kindred in its numer- 
ous relationships and life-long friendships, and their 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 229 

endearing associations. Besides, he was prosperous 
and well-to-do — had large possessions; in a word, 
Abraham was rich, and evidently too a man of 
mark and of honored position. In the midst of 
these highly favorable and agreeable surroundings, 
the word of command came, "Get thee out from 
thy country and kindred to a place I will show 
thee." The sacrifice he was called to make was 
nothing less than kindred and country, usually the 
most tenaciously endearing ties which bind the hu- 
man heart. There is something sad in the thought 
of one turning his back forever on the green hills 
over which he had roamed with youthful pleasure, 
the lovely vales in which he had so often gathered 
bright flowers, and the sparkling water-brooks along 
whose meandering he had from the davs of child- 
hood sported with gleesome delight. Men gener- 
ally will make almost any other sacrifice first, so 
endearing to the human heart are the ties of kin- 
dred and country. It is true, we sometimes see 
men forsaking their old homes and going out in 
quest of new and better countries — bound, perhaps, 
for Oregon, California, or some other place in the 
far West; but a little reflection will show there is 
a great difference in the case of Abraham and that 
of the ordinary emigrant. The emigrant has ma- 
turely thought over all his plans in detail, and, after 
full and special information, has fixed upon some 
particular locality — having likely visited it and 
given it a personal inspection before determining his 
proposed change. And besides, he has laid down 
his map before him, traced the route, measured the 



230 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

distance, counted the miles, and estimated the prob- 
able delays and expense involved. With all these 
matters definitely arranged and clearly understood, 
the emigrant strikes out with a buoyant step and 
a courageous heart. Ask him whither he is going, 
and he can tell you all about it, and will begin to 
expatiate on the excellency of his future home; 
will tell you all about its soil and situation, of its 
genial, healthful climate, its generous soil, its wav- 
ing harvests, its luscious fruits, its sparkling fount- 
ains; will probably give you names of kindred 
or friends who have gone before, and how they 
have already prospered; and will add the names 
of other kindred and friends who are also making 
ready to follow on, and of the good times generally 
in store for them all in the new homes awaiting 
them. But so went not out Abraham; he went 
out not knowing whither he went; he was one of 
the movers who could not tell where he was going. 
He had received the simple word of command to 
get out from his country and kindred; and without 
further questionings, or explanations, or hesitating 
delays, he quietly and promptly set about to make 
ready for his departure; and it was not, in all like- 
lihood, till he was about ready to depart that his 
friends and neighbors were apprised of his purpose. 
Doubtless their surprise was great when it was 
noised abroad that Abraham was about to be off, 
and on coming to see for themselves they found him 
all ready, with his flocks and herds, goods and chat- 
tels, to depart. " Wherefore, Abraham, this sudden 
surprise? Going to leave, and for what parts? 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 231 

AY hat is the nature of the country to which you 
propose to go? M " Never saw it." "Xever saw it! 
Then in which direction does it lie ? How far off is it? 
and how many deep rivers, high mountains, and 
wide valleys do you expect to pass before arriving 
at your destination ? " u Ah ! on these points my chart 
does not inform me." Surely Abraham's friends and 
neighbors thought some wild vaffary had gotten 
possession of him, and some were ready to reason 
the case with him, some to dissuade, some to 
expostulate; but when Abraham remained unmoved 
by these mean?, some wondered at him, some pitied, 
him, some were almost indignant that one of his 
repute could become the victim of such a wild en- 
thusiasm. And the truth is that but for one soli- 
tary reason Abraham would decidedly have been 
acting the part of a fool; but, as it happens, that is 
the very reason that never does avail with fools — 
God had commanded, and that was reason enough; 
his purpose was to obey, and that was purpose 
enough. 

And what of the Christian? Can he succeed in 
making himself understood better than Abraham 
did? Does not the Christian seem, in the eyes of 
the unbelieving world, much like Abraham seemed 
to his surprised countrymen? And what more can 
the Christian say for himself than Abraham did 
for himself? Tell us, Christian, if you can, of your 
plans and purposes. You, too, talk of being a 
stranger and a pilgrim; you, too, are seeking a 
better country, and have been en route therefor this 
quarter of a century perhaps. Are you making 



232 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

any substantial progress? What do your many 
prayers amount to? Are they of any advantage to 
you? Wherein is it different with you from your 
neighbor, who perchance seldom or never prays? 
You speak of bright hopes and joyous expectations 
that often animate your breast; but is not this the 
way in which all enthusiasts talk? And then you 
look forward to heaven as that better country 
whither you are going. Heaven — where is it? 
Did you ever know of one to get there? Did you 
ever see one from there? Did you ever hear of one 
who was wise enough to say that, of his own 
knowledge, he knew any thing of it? In a word, 
are you quite sure after all there is any such place? 
What makes you think so? Ah ! you have no other 
reason than Abraham had. He did not pretend to 
have more than the simple promise of God, nor 
have you a shadow of aught besides on which to 
rest your expectations. 

Such was the faith of Abraham, and such is the 
Christian's; and it is just such as the world is slow 
to understand or appreciate. If some of its sub- 
jects are learned, as was Paul, then the Festuses of 
the world esteem it to be only such learning as is 
strangely blended with madness; or if under its in- 
fluence the multitudes are mightily moved, as under 
the preaching of Peter at Pentecost, then unbelievers 
begin to say, "What enthusiasm! surely they be as 
those who are drunken ! " But let us calmly inquire 
here with which party the delusion rests. The dif- 
ficulty with infidelity is how so simple and unpre- 
tending a thing as the obedience of faith can accom- 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 233 

plish such mighty results as immortality, glory, and 
everlasting life; how so insignificant a cause can 
produce such astounding effects. But such do not 
reason well, since the greatest of life's present pur- 
poses are accomplished by very insignificant means. 
By the simple and generally unconscious process of 
breathing, life itself is maintained; and is it any 
undue stretch of the imagination to suppose that 
our spiritual and higher nature needs resources of 
support? And if any rule of life apply to man as a 
moral being, what rule other than that of the obedi- 
ence of faith can be found to meet the case? Shall 
he walk by sight? Nay, verily, for he would have 
to live a thousand years, and all the while assidu- 
ously apply himself to acquire sufficient wisdom 
and experience to enable him, with even a proba- 
ble prospect of success, in working his way through 
a life beset with so many natural and moral 
evils. The world has much to say in commenda- 
tion of reason. Be it so; for none more than the 
Christian ought to be able to give a reason for the 
hope that is within him. And there is a thousand 
times more philosophy in a life of faith than many 
have ever dreamed of. By the constitution of our 
nature we bestow our confidence upon those whom 
we greatly esteem for their wisdom and goodness; 
nay, we bestow our confidence as the evidence of 
such esteem, and the withholding of it is itself an 
evidence of misgivings as to the capacity or the in- 
tegrity, the wisdom or the goodness, of those from 
whom it is thus withheld. Do we believe in God? 
have we no doubt as to his wisdom and goodness? 



234 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

How, then, shall we show our belief? how can we 
do so unless it be by the bestowal on him of our 
unwavering confidence? If we hesitate here, is 
there any other conclusion possible than that there 
are misgivings as to his wisdom or goodness? And 
is it possible to properly honor God under such cir- 
cumstances? So we see that it becomes not only 
scripturally and morally true, but also philosophic* 
true, that without faith it is impossible to please 
God. 

Our faith is subject to trial — sometimes severe 
trial. There are two reasons which might be named 
for this. One is that by such a process it is more 
full}- developed, and also thereby strengthened and 
matured. Thus the trial of our faith M worketh pa- 
tience; and patience, experience; experience, hope; 
and hope maketh not ashamed n — that is, never dis- 
appoints, but leads us on and up to where the angels 
are. Another reason is that while we thereby show 
our faithfulness to God, the same occasion is used 
to show us God's faithfulness to us. Abraham was 
thus tried in the offering up of Isaac. But surely 
if Abraham ever had doubts or mis^ivin^s before 
that day, he could have had none such ever after; 
for if his trial was great, his deliverance was more 
so; if he showed his integrity toward God, God on 
his part showed back td Abraham such a token of 
his regard that he never*more could cease to remem- 
ber it, 

One look more after Abraham, and we are done. 
"We are told he looked for a city which hath foun- 
dations — sought a better country. His faith availed, 



Abraham's Life of Faith. 235 

for he reached that better country in safety — we 
know he did, for we have heard from him. Our 
blessed Lord more than once makes honorable men- 
tion of him; and of the blessedness of one that 
was saved it was enough to say, "He rested in 
Abraham's bosom/'' Abraham's humble faith was 
like unto yours, Christian — his God is yours, as 
much yours as his. As Abraham went safely, so 
shall you if you are also his friend; all who are 
there are friends of God, and no true friend of God 
ever failed to reach there. 



WHAT TO PREACH. 



"We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." 2 Co- 
rinthians iv. 5. 

THERE were two things for which the Apostle 
Paul was cartful First of all, that he might 
as a preacher of Christ make full proof of his min- 
istry; and to this end he was ready both to labor 
and to suffer. Instant in season and out of season, 
he was ready to become all things to all men, if 
haply he might save some. He spared no pains, he 
left no means untried to show himself a workman 
that needed not to be ashamed. 

Careful thus far. he was further careful that what- 
ever success might attend his preaching all the 
honor and glory thereof should be ascribed to that 
Jesus in whose name he appeared, and by whose 
authority he went forth. 

In times so early as even the apostle's own '. 
there began to be expressed preferences in regard to 
the ministry. There were some who said, u We are 
for Paul: " others said, " We are for Apollos; ,; still 
others said, ; * We are for Cephas.'" Now, as innocent 
as all this might appear to be. it seemed to try the pa- 
tience of the apostle exceedingly, and hence we hear 
him exclaim. "What! was Paul crucified for you? 
were you baptized in the name of Paul?*' — adding 
that in so far as himself was concerned he would do 
- 



[AT TO I 237 

I he, by enticing 

. ' sc : re te on 

ainds s tc "'in laurels for himself. And 

'Lest tl r . x h : 31 1st becc me ; : none 

effect;" for a Paul may ~ I an A Uos i 

i : . but I . . " .::..:. K 

K- ! j in - these expressed purposes of the 

apost r. ire are the sttei prep::..: tc 

and apprec force : leelaration asset 

forth in the text. 

The pi feels as Paul felt — u W . : ; is n . 

t 

me, if I preach not the _ $pe Christ — . _ as to 
appreciate:., b ....- - atureof theres ina- 

bility wti ag upon him. T stand up t e ying 

men, and in see :h them to be rec- 

onciled I - - [derations :: ac serious 

item I ng them one may well 
: himse fficient for these things 

The fc siness )f the preacher is 1 preach Christ, 
hence the great res rilify in volved. But it may 

~A.~ A asked, 1 ^s not the he Isc -hare in 

some degree a I; >nsibili1 Yes; with him 

who bears the message m ith him who 

hears a message from Christ is a fearful i - 

sponsi ility 

lAr rzi.AAs :oiAAr_;e A :A ^AiAny :: A^ 
gospel was unwavering. In his estimation it was 
the power of God nnto salvation, and he tfa e a : : e 
sought to preach it oot in "the wisdom of this 
w-tr'.i. A: A: A:.: '.::-.:: :.:\: :. : tA AAt :.A. ;: 
power ' — knowing nothing ; -saye Thrisf and him 
.::.;:; A. 



238 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

The preacher has but one great leading theme — 
there may be a thousand subordinate ones, but they 
all point in one direction, all centering in that which 
sets forth Christ and him crucified. It is a theme 
that never grows stale, but is of ever-enhancing in- 
terest. In order to declare the whole counsel of 
God, the preacher, now and then, may turn aside for 
a moment from the more pleasing assurances of the 
gospel to portray the terrors of the law; but it is 
that he may the more clearly and the more effectu- 
ally point to that Christ who is the end of the law 
for righteousness to every one that believeth. He 
may sometimes in passing along linger for awhile 
at Sinai's awful base to witness its fierce lightnings 
and hear its dread thunders, but it is only that it 
may hasten him on and onward to the far different 
scenes which are being enacted at Calvary. 

The preaching that has no reference to Christ, 
direct or indirect, immediate or remote, can scarce- 
ly, in the strict sense of the term, be called the gos- 
pel. The gospel is good tidings, but how can there 
be good tidings to dying sinners which does not 
proclaim a living Saviour? 

Christ has reserved to himself the calling and 
sending forth of his own messengers; and doubtless 
the selections thus made are ofttimes variant from 
what w r ould have been those of "the wisdom of 
this world," since, according to the apostle, "not 
many wise men after the flesh are called" Of all 
the apostles there was perhaps not one, save .Paul 
himself, who was capable of preaching with the 
"enticing words of man's wisdom," and yet it is he 



What to Preach. 239 

who promptly repudiates the idea of using any such 
means. . 

And it will be a sad day for the Church when its 
congregations shall turn away from sound doctrine, 
and with "itching ears" call for more "enticing 
words" to supply its place, and sadder still when 
the pulpit shall be found catering to the desire; not 
that it is expected that the day will ever come when 
human learning and eloquence shall cease to com- 
mand attention, still it is not to be overlooked that 
these can be turned to evil account as well as good, 
and may sometimes usurp the places of what are far 
more valuable than themselves. One of the great- 
est preachers of this century,* the fame of whose 
eloquence is as wide as the Christian w T orld, has 
given it as his opinion that the pulpit may be made 
as entertaining as the boards of the theater, and at 
the same time be utterly destitute of that true piety 
which constitutes the essence and value of Chris- 
tianity. ~No: earnest preaching and earnest hear- 
ing will alone supply the want; with these, the 
Church will never languish nor have occasion to 
lament the lack of a due share of true and genuine 
eloquence. 

The great subject-matter of all true gospel preach- 
ing, according to the apostle, is Christ Jesus the 
Lord; and surely if the Church glow with the fer- 
vor of life divine, there is room left for nothing else. 
Shall not our minds and hearts be attracted to him 
with an all-absorbing concern, with a pleasing and 

*Dr. Chalmers. 



240 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

fascinating delight? Think of it. There is no oth- 
er being in whom we have, or can have, a, like pos- 
sible interest. All we are or can hope to be centers 
in him. Father, mother, kindred may be near in- 
deed, but not in a like sense, nor is it possible for 
them to be. They will certainly leave us soon, or 
we them, and in remote possibilities might, per- 
chance, forsake us; but he hath already loved us 
even unto death. 

When we read His history, it is unlike any other, 
whether real or fictitious. If we study his charac- 
ter, we find it invested with a radiance transcend- 
ently above the brightest and best of the children 
of men. If he speak, it is as never man spake; if 
he act, it is in a manner and sphere peculiar to him- 
self; if he sorrow, we can only behold him in silence 
and wonder; if he love — ah! it was never other- 
wise. Himself is love, and after a manner which 
affords wonderment even to the angels. If while 
he sojourned and tabernacled among men he ever 
made a single false step, then criticism, though 
barbed with intensest malignity, has been unable to 
point it out. In all that he said, and in all that he 
did, where is there a solitary instance in which his 
most devoted followers could have wished that it 
might have been somewhat differently said, sorpe- 
what differently done? On the contrary, all the 
virtues and all the graces we can conceive of were 
perfected in him. The works that he wrought, and 
the benefits which he conferred, were in behalf of 
the weak and the unworthy, and under such cir- 
cumstances as to preclude the possibility of ever 



What to Preach. - 241 

receiving any compensation in return therefor. Pos- 
sessing all power in heaven and earth, he patiently 
endured the bufferings of very weakness, and that 
in its meanest form. The honors of the universe 
were at his disposal, yet in silence and sorrow he 
bore the reproaches of the vile, and wept over their 
misfortunes. The earth was his and the fullness 
thereof, yet himself, a hungry sufferer, had not 
where to lay his head. But for all this the world 
may yet stand in doubt respecting him, and still 
refuse him homage, though the human mind is un- 
able to suggest a reason why. 

The plea that there are numerous religions in the 
world, and that of necessity the most'of them must 
be false, will avail nothing, for none of these even 
resemble the religion which Christ inculcates; nor 
will the plea that impostors have always abounded 
answer, for they for the most part are easily de- 
tected. Impostors do not spend their lives in doing 
good to the souls and bodies of men without expec- 
tation of compensation either of honor or profit. 
Impostors do not work after the manner of Christ's 
works; they could not if they would, they would 
not if they could. His w r orks showed him to be 
both great and good, and no impostor ever did, or 
ever can, show himself to be these. 

Is Christ not worthy to be preached? Think of 
it as we may, our sober conclusions assure us that 
our world needs a Saviour, and just such as he is 
set forth to be. Sin and its awful consequences are 
something more than dreams and fancies-— they are 
solemn, felt realities, about which there can be no 

16 



242 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

mistake ; and If there be any other name whereby 
we may be saved, who shall declare it? Ah! if he 
be not the life, the truth, and the way, then there Is 
no escape. It is in vain to look for any other rem- 
edy than that which the gospel sets forth. 

Christ declared his purpose in coming into the 
world to be to seek and to save the lost, and the 
wisdom and power which he everywhere put forth 
showed him to be fully capable of the grand and 
glorious undertaking. As "the man Christ Jesus," 
he is in full sympathy with our nature; as " Christ 
Jesus the Lord," all power in heaven and earth is 
his to render that sympathy available for every trust- 
ing soul of man. Hence there is such a power in 
his name, such virtue in himself, that a saving effi- 
cacy flows into every soul brought into proper rela- 
tionship to himself; and it is a simple, trusting faith 
that establishes this vital relation, insomuch that 
the trusting soul which but looks unto him lives. 

Our nature finds its true rest in him alone, Man 
of himself can do nothing; but with Christ as his 
all-sufficiency, all things are his. " Ye are complete 
in him," says the apostle, and a wonderful array of 
his titles and virtues are spread out before us to as- 
sure us of this fact. Thus he is set before us as our 
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion. He is alpha and omega, the beginning and 
the end, the all in all. He is the bread of life, the 
light of the world, the bright and morning star, the 
Sun of righteousness, the good Shepherd, the Lamb 
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He 
is " God with us," and becomes' the seeker's guide, 



What to Preach, 243 

the believer's trust, the mourner's comfort, the 
sick's physician, the widow's friend, the orphan's 
protector — yea, more than all, he is "our life/' and 
as such, both its cause and its security. 

What a sublime and glorious theme does the gos- 
pel afford! Of unvarying and ever-enhancing in- 
terest, the ages as they roll on bring to it fresh sup- 
plies of new beauties and sublimer joys. Every 
successive contemplation opens up still wider fields, 
which the more they are explored the more ex- 
haustless do they prove. Christ and him crucified 
has been the daily theme on multiplied thousands 
of lips for nearly two thousand years, and yet it is 
as fresh and vivifying as when first shouted from 
the skies by the angels of heaven. Earth's history 
and its array of all its noblest characters, subjected 
to a like process, would long ago have worn them- 
selves bare of all interest. Not so with Christ Jesus 
the Lord; in him dwells all the fullness of the God- 
head bodily, and the cycles of eternity shall not ex- 
haust the interest inspired by his name. Then let 
him be preached — preached till his name be made 
known from the rising to the setting sun. Let hill 
and vale, the land and the sea, with the isles of the 
deep, learn the music of his name. Let the outcast 
and forsaken of earth know that in him there is one 
friend still left. Let the wailings of earth be hushed 
to listen to the melody that flows from the lips of 
him who was ever the friend of sinners, the help of 
the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the salvation 
of the lost. 

And while angels cast their glittering crowns at 



•2U Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

feet, and celestial clioirs are singing his praises, 
let the ransomed of earth also echo its glad songs, 
and heaven and earth unite in harmonious acclaim-, 
** Unto him that has redeemed and washed da in his 
blood be all the fflory oi our salvation forever and 



JESUS AND THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE, 



"And lie was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 
And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 
eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up 
herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said 
unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And lie laid 
his hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glo- 
rified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indig- 
nation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath-day, and said 
unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: 
in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath-day. 
The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not 
each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, 
and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being 
a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen 
3, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day? And when he 
had said these thing-, all his adversaries were ashamed; and all the 
people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him." 
Luke xiii. 10-17. 

THE world has had numerous teachers, and many 
of them of deservedly illustrious fame; but 
never has there been but one who is preeminently 
entitled to the appellation of the Great Teacher — 
Jesus the Christ. As compared with him all others 
are but lamps — brilliant lamps indeed, but still only 
lamps — as contrasted with the shining of the noon- 
day sun. He is the only one who never took a 
misstep, never committed an error, never made a 
mistake. There is a lesson, if we may bat receive 
it, in every recorded event of his earthly ministra- 

245) 



246 Sermons by A. R McFerkin. 

tions; in his works as well as his words: not only 
in what he said, but also in what he did. If the 
despairing leper fall down at his feet, saying, "Lord, 
if thou wilt thou canst make me clean/' and the 
result is his instant healing, he thereby, more im- 
pressively than words could declare, shows himself 
to be a complete Saviour, a Saviour of the body as 
well as the soul. If he approach a thrifty-looking 
fig-tree bordering on the highway, seeking fruit and 
finding none, and thereupon pronounce sentence 
against it on account of its barrenness, under which 
it instantly withers from the roots upward, then his 
followers for all time to come shall the more clearly 
appreciate the force of his words when he says, 
"Herein are ye my disciples, that ye bear much 
fruit." 

The interesting incident which Luke here so 
graphically portrays is peculiarlj- suggestive. In 
the congregation there assembled for public worship 
Jesus beheld a woman whose distressful condition 
arrested his pitying eye. She was so bowed down 
with infirmity that she "could in no wise lift up 
herself." Stooping low, with her face fixed toward 
the ground, she had been compelled to go in this 
distressed and shamefully embarrassing condition 
for the almost intolerably tedious term of eighteen 
years. It would- seem that a few months, or a few 
years at most, of the endurance of so humiliating a 
burden would suffice to crush the most heroic spirit 
But a term of eighteen tedious years — more than 
half of an average life-time — suggests a volume of 
woes of body and woundings of spirit which no hu- 



Jesus and the Euxer of the Synagogue. 247 

man vocabulary can adequately express. And all 
this confessedly by no fault of her own. "No indis- 
cretion of conduct, no undue exposure to the in- 
clemency of the weather, no imprudence connected 
with the daily habits of her life, had any even re- 
mote connection with her sad condition. It was 
simply and wholly an infliction cast upon her by 
Satan. 

Whether in this our day and time Satan ever 
puts inflictions on human bodies, is a matter about 
which every one maybe persuaded in his own mind. 
Who knows but many of those cases for which 
physicians find it so difficult to make a satisfactory 
diagnosis, and which they dispose of by calling 
them "complicated" cases, may have their origin 
from that source? There can be no question that 
they were common in the days of Jesus and during 
apostolic times, and that they had a prior existence 
as far back as the days of Job, whose terrible suffer- 
ings are clearly stated to be the entire work of Sa- 
tan. I suppose that natural remedies would not 
avail in such cases, as it would seem that Satan 
could readily counteract their virtues in all diseases 
thus piit within his power. Jesus declared that one 
of his purposes for coming into the world was to 
destroy the works of the devil, and showed forth 
his power to do so by giving relief both to the 
bodies and souls of men. Of course I speak of nat- 
ural remedies considered within themselves. Satan 
afflicts in no case without the special sufferance of 
God, and then only to the extent that he may allow, 
' and not one iota beyond; and at the point where he 



248 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

may see fit to interpose, the infliction ceases; and 
whether the healing that ensues shall be the result 
of his direct power or instrumentality through nat- 
ural remedies, is a' matter resting wholly in his own 
good pleasure. In either case, the healing is wholly 
of the Lord. 

Whether it ever comes to pass in these days, as it 
did in times past, that the diseased is healed by the 
direct interposition of divine power, is a matter con- 
cerning which every one may be persuaded in his 
own mind. It is, however, noteworthy that some 
who are ready to scout the idea of such divine in- 
terposition when in health are found to change their 
views when brought to the verge of death; when 
faithful and skillful physicians can confessedly go 
no farther, then they eagerly seize the only remain- 
ing hope — a hope that rests entirely in the interces- 
sions and prayers of pious friends, for that relief 
which only God can bring. 

But the serious mind may anxiously ponder the 
problem why it is that Satan, the unrelenting ene- 
my of God and man, should be suffered thus to in- 
terfere in the dealings of a merciful Heavenly Father 
with his children, in whose behalf he has so won- 
derfully manifested his infinite love. 

It is well that we should not anxiously concern 
ourselves in regard to those counsels of the Divine 
will, the understanding of which lies beyond the 
range of our present capacities. It is enough for 
us to know that lie doeth all things well. It seems 
as though the book of Job was written with special 
reference to the affording of light and comfort to 



Jesus and the Ruler of the Synagogue. 249 

his trustful children, for all time to come, in regard 
to what are looked upon as strange and mysterious 
providences, whereby they may ever rest assured 
that nothing, however unfortunate and harmful it 
may appear to be, can result in the final outcome 
otherwise than to their highest advantage. Satan 
dealt terribly hard by Job, but when the calamities 
were overpassed, the bounties bestowed upon him 
were larger and fuller than he ever before could 
have conceived. One of the great principles devel- 
oped in his severe trial is the inherent power which 
binds God's children to himself. Satan, with all 
his shrewdness, had no adequate conception of this 
previous to his experiments with Job. Perhaps 
neither Job himself nor the faithful of subsequent 
times could be so sensibly assured on this point 
but for the stress of circumstances, so painfully try- 
ing, by which its clearer demonstration is manifest- 
ed. Satan's attention was called to Job. Doubtless 
he had observed him before, and supposed that his 
service to God was based solely on selfish and carnal 
motives. That inasmuch as God had hedged him 
in with health and wealth and friends, together 
with every good thing that heart could desire, Job, 
for such considerations, could well afford to serve 
him. In a word, his view of the matter was that 
Job served God because he was paid to do so. He 
well understood that health and wealth and friends 
were the three great items most highly prized by 
humanity; and if Job — or any other servant of God 
in like circumstances — were disrobed of these three 
great prizes, that his piety would vanish with them; 



£50 Sermoss by A. P. McFerrin. 

nor is it likely that Satan doubted his final success 
till he exhausted the schedule. Job was stripped 
of all — he had nothing left but his righteousness; 
and now, with a heroism of which Satan had never 
conceived, and of which saints and angels would 
perhaps thereafter have a clearer appreciation, he 
defines his position thus: "My righteousness I hold 
fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not re- 
proach me so tong as I live/ 7 Braver words, though 
uttered from the deepest profounds of human woes, 
never fell from mortal lips. 

Ah! and since we come to think of it, if a Chris- 
tian life would always bring with it all the good 
things of this world that heart could desire, who 
then would hesitate to be a Christian? Christianity 
would speedily take the world, and the echo of an 
opposing voice would be heard no more; but it 
would be a Christianity without a Christ, and the 
"god of this world" its supreme delight. Nay, let 
angels, men, and devils know that God's trusting 
children delight in his service, and that they serve 
him for his own sake — the motive of motives, that 
carries with it all else that is right and true and 
good. 

Now, let us recur to the poor woman whom Satan 
had victimized for eighteen years. All the indica- 
tions point to her as a good and holy woman; and 
indeed the fact that her affliction was caused by Sa- 
tan is substantial evidence that she was such. The 
announcement by Jesus that she was the victim of 
Satanic malice is of itself the highest indorsement 
of the many excellences and virtues of her charac- 



Jests and the Rvlir of the Synagogue.- 2-51 

ter. I suppose that Satan can have, no desire to 
_:t the bodies oi any but good people, or those 
who are striving to become such. The wicked, 
whom he is leading captives at their own wills, he 
keeps bound in spirit, and sa bowed to earth and 
:ily things that, without assisting grace, they 
can in no wise lift themselves up: and so long as 
they are content to remain his victims, he is doubt- 
less willing that they should have all the possible 
g-: 1 of this life which they suppose they can get 
without God. Hence those frequent strivings and 
agonizings of soul, when awakened to a true sense 
of its condition, to be rid of the distressing burden^ 
and to find that rest which Christ alone can give to 
those who k * labor and are heavy-laden." 

Jesus at once recognized this afflicted woman as 
beino: u a daughter oi Abraham." And while this 
was literally true as pertaining to her lineal descent, 
we may allow it as also true in that spiritual inter- 
pretation by which "they which are of faith, the 
same are the children of Abraham." It is also ob- 
servable that Jesus, in relieving her of her infirmity, 
waived those preliminaries so often occurring in 
other cases, by such questionings as might serve to 
evince or develop the faith of the applicant for re- 
lief. But in this instance there seems to have been 
no application to him for help, nor any preliminaries 
as introductory to the occasion of his interposition 
in her behalf. Indeed, it is highly probable that 
she had simply come to the place of public worship 
in her usual way, as a humble worshiper of God, with- 
out any personal kuowledge of Jesus or informa- 



'2b'2 i "::;: :yA,P, MoFjsrrin. 

tion that he would be present, and consequently 
without any expectation of any unusual occurrence 
in so far as she was personally con :emed. No d ; ubt 
she was a regular attendant at public worship, and 
punctual to the extent of her power to be so; and 
when we think for a moment of her humiliating 
and embarrassing condition, w^ judge ;ha: she must 
:_;.-; ha", a mu :h higher appreciation -of the privi- 
leges of public worship than many Christian people 
c : our day. 

I imagine the scene which occurred on that event- 
ful day. when sh : for the first time met with Jesus. 
as one of surpassingly thrilling interest. Jesus was 
hkeiy on one >:■! his usuai ja-urneyings through the 
country-places, meeting the congregation there as- 
sembled for the first time, perhaps the only time, 
And though his meeting" of this poor woman there. 
to all huma:: appearances, may have been an inci- 
dental, casual even:, who can say that the meeting 
of her may not have been the main purpose of his 
coming into that neighborhood? While vast num- 
3rs 3 impelled by interest or curiosity, docked out 
to see and hear Jesus as he ] ass€ 1 along from place 
to place, there were many poor distressed ones who 
from inability were deprived of the opportunity. 
With longing hearts they yearned :ar an oppor- 
tunity to meet him; but the lad none 
to lead them, the suffering cripples none to carry 
them, the bereaved a ::-:'. I not 

at then leave their homes; and all these helj 

Id i was to send up thei ies to 

And of all up to God i: is 



Jesus and the Rulek of the Synagogue. 253 

just the cries of such desolate and unfortunate ones 
to which his ear is ever open, and to which he first 
attends. The yearning soul that longs to meet Je- 
sus will have an opportunity; if such souls cannot 
come to Jesus, Jesus will come to them. 

In the accounts oiven us of his iournevin^s, the 
reader can scarcely fail to note how often he sud- 
denly departed from the midst of the multitudes, 
followed by his apostles, who seemed to be utterly 
in the dark as to whither he was ofoino;. But wait a 
little, and it will appear that he left so that about the 
hour of his arrival at the village of Xain he would 
meet the solemn cortege bearing the corpse of the 
only son of the poor heart-broken widow who was 
following it to its burial. God had heard her de- 
spairing cries. Or again, of that route which leads 
him alono- the way where blind Bartimeus will be 
sitting, and who has so ardently wished that he 
could once meet with Jesus, of whose kindness to 
poor blind people he had heard so much. Or still 
again, how it is that he chanced to be so near by the 
home of sorrowing Jairus at the very moment when 
his little and only daughter is in the throes of 
death. To human sense, all these matters just hap- 
pened to turn out that way; but if we could see 
them in the light in which Heaven beholds them, we 
might have a far clearer appreciation of the won- 
derful influence on Divine benevolence caused by 
the yearnings of desolate hearts bowed down in sor- 
row at the mercy-seat. 

And the time had now come when this poor 
. woman should be freed from the oppressions of Sa- 



254 Sbrmoxs :t a. P. McFkrbdt, 

tan. Eighteen weary years o: shame and suffering 
had :ully attes ?r patience, her integrity, her 

faith: and r . ;-w h si;-:: o: her meeting with 

Jesns at the synagogue vras the Heaven-appointed 
honi :r complete vindication and glorious tri- 

umph. Doubtless she was well knewn to the con- 
gregation, mostly her neighbors, who hoc long 

ij atliized with her in her sadly unfortunate : 
diticm 

If we had an insight into her previous history, 
who knows but that it may have been something 
nearly like this; That eighteen years ago she 
just 1 Into womanhood, and being possessed 

of great beauty, of an attractive form and a blithe- 
some spirit, she was peculiarly gifted to become an 
influential leader in the frolicsome gayeties and 
God-forgetting pleasures of society; but despite all 
the inducements and allurements that could be 
brought to bear, she steadfastly adhered to her al- 
ready chosen purpose to serve God, unto whom she 
given her heart, and consecrated to him what- 
ever of influence she might possess in doing good 
and bringing glory to his name: 

Satan was :. uu yielding integrity 

he put this shameful affliction up en her, per- 
haps r to repent cu her choice, and by 
thifi protracted infliction to undermine her trust in 
God. T] :'•::•: i it to 1 j so for wise purposes, 
the final outcome shall bring eternal ad- 

s, and glory to himself. 

ailed her forth from the midst 

1 G on. she 



Ji tee Rriz: : CHI c: 

slowly apr: his presence, every fa 

dilated with a sympathizing cui g in 

almost bre; what the ;::. 

it all should be. And when she reached 
presence and heard the words, ,k Woman, thou art 
rd from thine infirmitv/' and saw him lav his 
hands on her, and saw how she instantly leaped up- 
ward with more than the agility of her youthful 
days, the more than magical effect on the beholders 
must have been indescribably thrilling. Eyes were 
filled with tears of sympathy, uplifted faces beamed 
with joy, while the hearts of the assembly thrilled 
with gladness. As for the woman herself, it is a 
she "glorified God." I reckon she shouted, and I 
would not wonder if she did. And who could 
blame her if she did? it would have been won- 
der: e had not! 

Barely that was a happy meeting, and everybody 
was delighted. Did I say everybody was delighted? 
No, not quite. There was one poor wretch who 
3 not; and strange to say — no, not so very 
strange when we come to think about it — that was 
no less a personage than the ruler of the synagogue 
himself. Satan was of course terribly enraged in 
beholding his malignant scheme so suddenly upset 
and his infernal tricks so palpably exposed; and 
the ruler of the synagogue caught the infection of 
his rage^ and he and Satan were infuriated at such 
a desecration of the Sabbath-day. And the ruler 
u with indignation'' cried out, u There are six days 
in which men ought to work: in them come and 
ealed, and not on the Sabbath-day V* This out- 



256 Sermons by A. F. McFerrin. 

:■: was .'■stcntit.-Ii addressed to the congregation, 
was specially meant for Jesus. Ah. there was 
. ; as had done it! Jesus did not stand 
1 with the Pharisees. He knew what was un- 
der their cloak and exposed it, and the exposure 
disgraced them in the eyes of the multitude. 

When the ruler of the synagogue subsided enough 
to take a long breath, then Jesus finished him. He 
1 to the ruler. "Thou hypocrite!" and the con- 
gregation readily ratified the verdict. Yes. l\\. : yj- 
— that is it: and so overpowering was the ver- 
dict that the ruler slunk back "ashamed." And 
then the people began afresh to "rejoice for ad the 
; 3us things done by him." And the rejoicings 
begun have been going on to this day and 
r. The glorious things done by Jesus that day 
were the harbinger of a procession to follow, which 
is still moving on. calling forth unceasing rejoicings 
that will continue until this same Jesus shall be seen 
coming on the clouds, and shall descend from heaven 
with the shout of the archangel and the trump of 
God. when the praises below shall mingle with the 
ises from on high in strains so grand and in har- 
nies so sweet that all the hosts of heaven shall 
be struck with new wonder at the delightful and 
18 surprise. 



WHERE ARE THE NINE? 



"And as lie entered into a certain village, there met him ten men 
that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their 
voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he 
saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. 
And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And 
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with 
a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, 
giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering 
said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There 
are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." 
Luke xvii. 12-18. 

IT may seem strange that ten lepers should have 
been found in one company, all lifting their 
voices to Jesus for mercy. They were not allowed 
any other company. So hideous and disgusting 
was the malady as to banish its victims from all the 
pleasant associations of life. And this explains 
why it was that they " stood afar off" instead of vent- 
uring into his more immediate presence. Leprosy 
was the emblem of sin, and like sin there was no 
relief from its tormenting grasp, nor escape from 
the inevitable death to which it drags its victim, 
save by the direct intervention of God. The first 
specific case of healing by Jesus mentioned by 
Matthew was that of the leper who fell down be- 
fore him, saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst 
make me clean;" and in the eyes of the multitude, 
so familiar with the fatal consequences of the 
17 (257) 



258 Sebmons it A. P. McFerrin. 

malady, such a healing by J^sus was an anans\ 
ble proof of bis divine power. 

And when the importunate cries of these miser- 
able outcasts arrested the pitying ear of Jesus 3 he 
promptly bid them go and show themselves :: the 
priests. lie did not pronounce them healed; but 
thev well understood the regulations governing in 
such cases, and that, in order to their res:::; - /:;::; 
to the socialities of life, their soundness must be 
pronounced by the priests; and they also under- 
stood that a ready compliance with his directions 
30uld only mean that they should thereby realize 
great desire of their hearts. The prompt 
manner with which they availed themselves of 
his instructions showed their faith in Jesus. They 
were not cleansed before they procee ledtogo, but " l;s 
they went/' Had they wavered here, insisting on 
the cleansing first, before setting out to £0 to the 
ists, they would have failed to realize the pre- 
cious boon so ardently desire 1 : and just at thepoint 
where many a hapless sinner has wrecked his eter- 
nal welfare. 

How often will we hear one sav, •• if the L 

<. 

would make me a happy Christian, tht 
faithfully serve him;" but according 
process, the faithful serving must . that the 

happy results may ■ .• and the dir: be- 

tween the two pro: jsses is as great as the 
between clay and night — first tl 
crown. But these miserable lepers were too in- 
tern rned to parley about terms, 
rts and buoyant ste] - tl y sta 



Where are the Nine? 259 

show themselves to the priests — delightful visions 
of restoration to health, to friends and dear ones, 
thrilling their souls. Fond anticipations of much 
earthly happiness yet in store for them were already 
looming up before them, and while but a little 
way off, and still in sight and hearing of Jesus, the 
glowins: sensation of the healthful tide of life beo-an 
to thrill their frames; and suddenly the joyous ex- 
clamation went out from each to the other, " 
see! I am healed, am already safe and sound! 7 ' 

"Was not such a transformation like unto life from 
the dead? The inexorable seal of the door of their 
prison was thus broken, restoring them to those 
delights of life which they had so long despairingly 
mourned as numbered only with the irrecoverable 
things of the past. The prize thus suddenly gained 
was worth more to them than all the gold and sil- 
ver of the universe, and yet it had -cost them noth- 
ing, not even the anxieties awaiting the decision of 
the priests. 

And now, amidst the overwhelming joy of the 
occasion, surely the generous impulse of gratitude 
to their Benefactor cannot for a moment longer be 
restrained. Yea, in unmeasured praises and heart- 
utterances, which cannot be repressed, their Bene- 
factor must immediately know the intensity of their 
thankfulness for the glorious work wrought in their 
behalf. Yes, that is natural; unperverted human 
nature could not do less; so they will return to 
make known to him the grateful joy of their hearts. 
How could they help doing so? alas! how? But 
nine of them could help it, and did. 



260 Sermoxs by A. P. McFerrin. 

There was but one — a Samaritan, a stranger — 
"who turned back, and with a loud voice glorified 
God." Jesus was aggrieved at the ungrateful slight 
offered him by the nine others, as evinced in the 
question, seemingly asked in a saddened tone, 
"Where are the nine?" Such conduct was not 
only a stigma fastened on themselves, but an affront 
to the better phase of humanity. The divinest 
trait of humanity is its sympathies as manifested 
in helpfulness; and whosoever treacherously mars 
these sympathies, or inhumanly brings them into 
disrepute, is an enemy of his race. He who dis- 
guises himself in the habitude of a beggar, to filch 
the charities of a sympathizing community, is a far 
greater sinner against the human race than the reck- 
less highwayman. The common verdict of man- 
kind consigns the ingrate to the lowest depths 
of meanness; his is the double sin, as being both 
against his God and his fellow-men, and a wrong 
inflicted on every real object of charity. I will not 
say that the conduct of these nine recreant lepers 
deserves the extremest sentence of the common in- 
grate, since they probably regarded the matter as 
being wholly between themselves and God, and as 
concerning none but themselves. Unfortunately, 
they likely belonged to that large class of people 
who, while mindful of the courtesies and kindnesses 
of social life, are strangely oblivious to the direct, 
personal relationships subsisting between them- 
selves and God. In robust health the3 T daily seat 
themselves at well-provided tables, amidst the most 
agreeable surroundings, and yet would feel abashed 



Where are the Nine? 261 

at the thought of offering to God an open and 
grateful recognition of his bounteous mercies. 
Only in times of peril and sorest troubles do they 
imploringly turn to him for the help they can find 
nowhere else; and even then, if the anxiously 
sought help be mercifully granted, all mention of 
it, after the season of prosperity has returned, is 
carefully repressed. Indeed, it is sad to see how 
God is ignored by so many who otherwise are 
mindful and amiable in the social relationships of 
life; a like treatment toward themselves by their 
fellow-men would be promptly resented. Such seem 
to hide themselves from the fact that this continued 
trespassing on the long-suffering of God must have 
a termination, and that the termination may be 
abrupt. 

When we lend our sober thoughts to the serious 
facts which rise up before us in this direction, we 
the more clearly perceive the pertinency of this 
question asked by Jesus: "Where are the nine?'*' 
Think not for a moment that "the nine" of that 
occasion was an anomalous case. Xay, the line of 
their unbroken succession continues to this day 
and hour. Populous communities everywhere have 
their specimens belonging to the order of the same 
nine. 

Except those of well-fixed habits of a pious life, 
there are comparatively few who are much given to 
prayer, unless it be in cases of emergency when as- 
sailed by dangers and sore tribulations. But, first 
or last, these emergencies arise to most people, and 
constitute a crisis in the religious welfare of such as 



262 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

are called to pass through the trying ordeal. Some- 
times the emergency may constitute the turning- 
point where the vows and promises then made result 
in the salvation of the soul; but, alas! in other in- 
stances, when the danger seems overpassed, it is only 
followed by a truant spirit and a final ignoring of the 
solemn engagements then entered into, leaving the 
soul mare fearfully estranged from God than ever 
before. 

Let us not evade the solemn question which, in 
the providence of God, here and now so urgently 
repeats itself, "Where are the nine?- Be ye as- 
sured that it is not difficult to find them. Perhaps 
your mind already recurs to some one belonging to 
the order. Let us think a little. Yes, I can tell 
you where one of them is. You will remember 
that a few cteys ago, while at the post-office, there 
were several gentlemen present who were engaged 
in a friendly, lively conversation, the leading spirit 
of the company being that excellent and amiable 
gentleman, Captain Thrift. The Captain deserv- 
edly stands high in the estimation of his fellow- 
citizens, and is recognized as one of the most 
prosperous men in his community, and of well- 
known business capacity. Well, only a few years 
ago he was suddenly overwhelmed with financial 
reverses. He had ventured largely, for his means, 
in some enterprise the management of which was 
mostly left to others in whose skill and integrity 
he had the fullest confidence. One morning he was 
astonished to learn that rumors were abroad that 
the business had gone wrong, and that it was 



Where are the Nine? 263 

shrewdly surmised by some that the whole enter- 
prise was on the eve of an inevitable wreck. Almost 
dazed at the thought of the threatened calamity, 
he hastened to head-quarters, determined to probe 
matters to the bottom, that he might at once know 
the worst of the situation; and a careful survey of 
the realities developed by a brief investigation as- 
sured him that the completeness of the wreck far 
exceeded his worst fears, leaving him bereft of his 
means and hopelessly involved in liabilities from 
which he could see no hope of rescue. With a 
burdened heart he set out for his home late in the 
afternoon. Viewed from every stand-point, the 
prc^pect before him appeared so gloomy as to well- 
nigh crush his spirits. if he could only devise 
some way to have his little home left for the com- 
fort and protection of his faithful wife and little 
children, he would freely surrender the remainder 
of his assets, abandon all his other hopeful enter- 
prises, and be thankful to be freed from the over- 
whelming calamity which had so suddenly over- 
taken him. The Captain was not much habituated 
to prayer, but his heart just then did yearningly 
turn toward God for that help which he could ex- 
pect from no other source. While occupied with 
these reflections, he came up with his pious old 
neighbor, Mr. Goodman, who was standing at his 
front gate on the road-side. Here a conversation 
ensued in which he fully revealed his deplorable 
condition to his venerable friend, who endeavored 
to console him, commending him to God, and to 
the trustfully committing of his sore trouble into his 



26-i Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

hands, as the faithful helper in every time of need. 
The Captain felt grateful and was affected even 
unto tears, because of the sympathizing tenderness 
and heart-felt concern thus manifested in his behalf. 
Arriving at his home, he spent a restless night. 
He prayed as he had never prayed before; and with 
many confessions, heart-felt pleadings, and vows of 
self-dedication to a religious life, he endeavored to 
follow the advice of his good neighbor, by commit- 
ting himself and his tribulation into the hands of 
God. In a few days he found that by an exchange 
of certain securities and effecting a new combina- 
tion he could be released from a heavy portion of 
his liabilities. It also soon occurred that he received 
some moneys due him from a source which he had 
regarded as hopelessly insolvent, and by a fortunate 
investment of these means he soon realized a sur- 
prising profit. With these unexpected helps and 
a continued series of successes, he was enabled in 
one year measurably to master his embarrassments, 
and thenceforward his career has been one of un- 
wonted prosperity, insomuch that he is now ac- 
counted one of the successful men of the times. 

You will now the better understand the run of 
the conversation at the post-office a few days ago, 
to which I have before alluded. You will remem- 
ber that the Captain was in a fine flow of animation, 
and talked well, as he always does. Allusion was 
made to the present "hard times," the stringency 
in money matters, the shrinkage in values, and the 
difficulties with which many persons felt themselves 
to be embarrassed. The Captain remarked that 



Where are the Nine? 265 

"hard tiroes'" resulted from mismanagement, and 
that no one wide awake to his business affairs need 
everliave occasion to complain. One of his friends, 
who was present, and knowing of his career of the 
last few years, and the extreme perils from which 
he had so fortunately escaped, remarked suggest- 
ively: "Yes, Captain; but you know that some peo- 
ple seem to be more fortunate than the rest of the 
community, and appear to be specially blessed by 
Providence." Did you note the Captain's reply to 
that remark of his friend? "O yes," said he, "Prov- 
idence; but you will observe that Providence always 
helps those who help themselves." 

Just so; but that was not the way the Captain 
felt about it on that gloomy evening when he told 
his trouble over to old Brother Goodman, and that 
night of his sore distress when he prayed as he 
had never prayed before. Nay; indeed, then it was 
that he cried to Providence to help him, because he 
could not help himself. 

Perhaps like the nine who had been cleansed, and 
felt that they had no further special use for Jesus, 
the Captain also felt that after all he had in the 
time of his tribulation overestimated the necessities 
of his condition, and did not so much need the in- 
tervention of Providence as he had supposed. And 
wherefore should he, seeing, as the matter turned 
out, that he was so abuncfantly able to help himself? 
So it is, and was; "but Jeshurun waxed fat, and 
kicked." 

Should the question be reiterated, "Where are 
the nine?" 1 am ready to refer you to another 



266 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

specimen. Do you recollect that when we were at 
the depot last week there were several gentleman 
engaged in a cordial and enjoyable conversation, 
and that among them was Colonel Hopewell, a fine- 
looking specimen of manhood, and the very picture 
of robust health? The Colonel is very cordial in 
his manner, and has many friends. l About six 
months ago he was taken down with a sudden and 
dangerous illness, his case exciting the gravest ap- 
prehensions from the beginning. Despite all that 
skillful physicians and sympathizing friends could' 
do, he was soon menaced with the solemn presence 
of Death, waiting at the door, ready to execute the 
dread summons. His physicians, when seriously 
questioned, could afford him no hopeful prospect of 
escape. The sick man readily perceived the fearful 
situation. 

The thought of thus being cut off in the midst 
of his years, with his pleasant surroundings, with 
the plans and purposes of life just budding into 
hopeful promise, seemed to him more than he could 
endure. Moreover, and more than all, -he felt him- 
self unprepared to meet the awards of the great 
future. He had never doubted the authenticity of 
the Scriptures; had ever been a friend and patron 
of the cause of Christianity, and but for inexcus- 
able negligence would long since have been a per- 
sonal participant in the comforts and supports which 
it alone can afford. "0!" he cried, "this sudden 
leap into the dark is too dreadful to contemplate!" 
He hoped it might not be too late to retrace his 
steps, that he might make some reparation for past 



Where are the Nine? 2G7 

negligence; and if God would only interpose to 
raise him up, he would prove his fidelity to Heaven 
and society in a useful and devoted life the remain- 
der of his days. He implored his Christian friends 
to intercede with God in his behalf, which they 
were quite ready to do, being encouraged thereto 
by the fervent heart-utterances wdiich the sick man 
himself was sending up to God. Their supplica- 
tions in his behalf were continued, at his request, 
till a late hour in the night. His physicians, w T ho 
scarcely expected him to survive during the night, 
were astonished next morning to find that a reac- 
tion had taken place which seemed to be of a hope- 
ful and substantial character. Their hopes were 
realized, and by another day the crisis had been 
safely passed. Convalescence was rapid, soon re- 
sulting in complete restoration, and was followed 
up by a reinvigoration and robustness of health 
more than at any former period of his life. 

This was his condition when we saw him last 
week. You remember the cordial greeting and 
hearty hand-shaking w T ith which one of his friends 
met him, with fervent expressions of pleasure at 
finding him in the enjoyment of such vigorous 
health, adding that he had heard of his former dan- 
gerous illness, and that from the reports which 
reached him at that time he had almost despaired 
of ever having the pleasure of beholding his face 
again. And it was the Colonel's reply to these 
hearty salutations of his friend w T hich w T as so strik- 
ingly characteristic of that phase in poor human 
nature which is developed in the conduct of those 



268 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

belonging to the order of "the nine." "0 yes," 
said the Colonel, " my health was never more vig- 
orous than at the present time. It is true I was 
very sick, and my friends thought almost hopelessly 
so, but perhaps they were unnecessarily alarmed. I 
was indeed severely ill, but I had the attention of 
skillful physicians and the best of nurses, which, 
with a remarkably sound constitution, enabled me 
to weather the storm. The fact is, I belong to a 
long-lived family. My grandfather lived up into 
the nineties, and my grandmother, on my mother's 
side, nearly lived out her hundred years; and in 
view of the sound constitution which I have in- 
herited, with my regular habits and temperate 
manner of life, I think my prospects for well-nigh 
measuring out my century are about as good as 
anybody's in the world — hem! " 

Did he make any allusion to the interposition of 
a benign Providence in his behalf? No, not the 
remotest. Have any of his friends reminded him 
of his vows and agonizing prayers when that awful 
crisis was upon him? Not recently; some of his 
friends ventured to do so once, but it seemed to 
hurt his feelings and mantle his face with a blush. 

gratitude, thou lovely guest! how oft hast 
thou been turned out-of-doors, a dreary outcast, to 
wonder what has become of the nine! The thank- 
less returns for benefits received in times of deepest 
need constitute one of the most unamiable features 
of fallen human nature. The forbearance of Heaven 
toward such short- comings is truly wonderful. 
Doubtless this often occurs, because of our failure 



Where are the Nine? 269 

to recognize the benefits we already enjoy. "We 
are so much disposed to crave what we have not 
that we become oblivious to the precious treasures 
which we already possess. You never saw a human 
being who did not have reason to be thankful for 
his lot in this life, for, however much one may com- 
plain of it, it might have been far worse. " But 0," 
says one, "I cannot help repining at my lot when 
I contrast my condition with that of others no more 
deserving than myself, struggling as I have to do 
to supply my daily needs, while others abound with 
such a store of good things as to be beyond their 
capacity to enjoy them." 

my dear one, let us not be deceived by appear- 
ances. Probably you greatly overestimate the con- 
dition of others, and sadly underestimate your own. 
Perhaps on a clearer view of all the facts in your 
case, yon may be far better off than you have sup- 
posed. Let us take an inventory of many of the 
really valuable things you possess. For instance, 
you have two active limbs with nimble feet attached, 
so that you can move with ease and pleasure. 
" Yes," you say, "I am as sound and active in that 
respect as I could wish." Very well; there are 
those who would lay you down two hundred thou- 
sand dollars cash in exchange for their aching, help- 
less limbs, if such an exchange were practicable. 
Again, you have two vigorous arms with handy 
hands attached. You nod affirmatively. So there 
is another item which would readily command an- 
other two hundred thousand dollars. And also a 
like sum for your sharp-sighted eyes. And ditto, 



270 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

ditto for your keen-hearing ears. And so for your 
ordinary robust health. Here, then, are five items 
that foot up a clean million of dollars; and if the 
transfer of them were practically available, a rush 
of eager purchasers would clamor to be first served; 
and in fact, even if it were practicable to do so, you 
would not part with these inestimable possessions 
if the amount was laid clown before you. So, in 
fact, you are a millionaire — if not in money, in other 
possessions you value more highly. And still more 
than all this, you may have peace of mind and a 
good conscience toward God and man; and, on a 
calm review of the situation, you have abundant 
reasons for thankfulness toward God for his bounte- 
ous bestowments upon you. Then, cease your repin- 
ings, come back and give God thanks for his good- 
ness to you, and save yourself from the reproach of 
being accounted as belonging to the company of 
the ungrateful nine. 



PAUL AT ATHENS. 



" Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of 
Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For 
as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this 
inscription, TO THE UXKXOWX GOD. Whom therefore ye ig- 
norantly worship, him declare I unto you. . .' . Though he be 
not far from every one of us: for in him vre live, and move, and have 
our being." Acts xvii. 22, 23, 27, 23. 

DOUBTLESS that was a most trying position 
in which the apostle was placed. Philoso- 
phers and orators were in the audience before which 
he stood, for right there philosophy and oratory had 
wrought out their most brilliant achievements. 

His theme was the gods, and especially the God 
of gods — the Unknown God. It was a subject to 
which they had already given much careful thought, 
as clearly evinced by their numerous altars and their 
ardent devotions. To gain their respectful and attent- 
ive consideration, therefore, the subject must be deli- 
cately broached and most skillfully handled. The 
occasion was one of great interest, and, as beheld 
from a Christian stand-point, becomes intensely so. 
Even now, in contemplating the scene thus brought 
before our minds, we can scarcely suppress the anx- 
ious question, How will the apostle sustain himself? 
Will these cultivated 'idolaters give him a respectful 
hearing? "Will he succeed in lifting the veil from 
their eyes and impressing their minds and hearts 

(271) 



272 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

with those divine truths now for the first time so 
urgently presented for their consideration ? We are 
not wholly left to surmise the results. The record 
informs us that a few, very few, did believe; that 
others were so far interested as to promise to give 
the subject further consideration, while the most of 
his hearers repudiated the whole matter as unwor- 
thy of their concern. 

Here let us pause, and shifting the scene thus 
brought before us in that remote period, compare 
it with our own present surroundings in this our 
age of advanced thought, and ask ourselves, Where- 
in does the glorious contrast appear? Does our own 
age heartily indorse the doctrines and views of the 
apostle as presented in this discourse to the Athe- 
nians? 

Let us not overlook the real points af issue. The 
difference in views does not involve the question of 
the existence of a Supreme Being. The idea of God's 
existence was not new to the Athenians; on the 
contrary, their thoughts had been long and anx- 
iously turned in that direction, in proof of which 
they had reared an altar to him as the Unknown 
God. Indeed, it is the recognition of this fact of 
which the apostle so readily avails himself, that he 
may the more clearly show them how they "igno- 
rantly worshiped" him, and so greatly misappre- 
hended his nature. No; their fatal mistake was in 
regarding him as God afar off, as retired far beyond 
the confines of human sympathies, and as being in- 
different to the struggles and sufferings of humani- 
ty. And it is this felt absence of God, and that 



Paul at Athens. 273 

support of the human soul which a recognition of 
his presence alone can give, that make the burden 
of woe so crushing to heathendom. To fill up this 
painful void, this gloomy vacuum, recourse was had 
to the fiction of numerous inferior gods, w T ho might 
in some way form connecting links between mortals 
on earth and the Supreme Being — the " Unknown 
God." Under the influence of this happy conceit 
the Athenians doubtless imagined themselves to be 
brought into a more favorable relation to him who 
presides above all as the great First Cause of all 
things; and by the influence and intercession of 
their intermediate gods obtain such relief in cases 
of last resort as no other resource could supply. No 
wonder Paul's " spirit was stirred in him," as he 
contemplates their wretchedness and its ready rem- 
edy, of which they could avail themselves without 
money or price. His words are so plain that they 
can scarcely fail to perceive the misapprehensions 
under which they have labored. Instead of being 
God afar off, as they had supposed, he is so near 
"unto every one of us" that "haply they might 
feel after him and find him;" that instead of being 
indifferent to their wants, it is "in him they live, 
and move, and have their being." And since "we 
are also his offspring," his tender care and loving- 
kindness may not be doubted. Surely, but for that 
greatest of all mysteries, the mystery of iniquity, the 
words of light and life and power which rolled from 
Paul's lips would have been hailed with unanimous 
delight by his hearers, instead of being responded 
to by the mockings of some, the polite non-accept- 
18 



274 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

ance of others, and with saving power only by the 
few. 

And now let us again recur to our own times, and 
compare notes respecting the differences of views 
entertained by the Athenians and those which seem 
to prevail largely in this our day and time. The 
comparison is indeed much in our favor every way. 
The progress of the ages has brought us into the 
realms of a far brighter light. The mists and myths 
of former times have, to a large extent, been happi- 
ly dissipated. But, notwithstanding all this, does 
not something of the leaven of former times still 
remain to this day? In the conception of the muss- 
es is not the Maker and Upholder of all things still 
a God afar off, looking down from on high only oc- 
casionally to behold the works of his hands and the 
operations of his grace? And while the numerous 
inferior gods which occupied the attention of the 
Athenians have been utterly repudiated under the 
far brighter light of our age, have not some specious 
and imposing substitutes been found for them? 

What governs the world now? Surely not the 
mythical gods of heathendom. No; our age has 
discovered the controlling, ruling power to be in- 
herent in general laws — the laws of nature, the laws 
of the universe, which preside over all things, bring- 
f ing them into one granft and harmonious unity. 
Yes, every thing is now governed by laics, so that 
whatever comes to pass is to be accounted for as one 
of their results. The roll of years, the recurring 
seasons, the rise and downfall of nations, success or 
failure, fortune or misfortune — every thing that con- 



Paul at Athens. 275 

cerns humanity for weal or woe — all come and go as 
the result of general laws. If, when these general 
laws are dispensing their favors and their fortunes, 
one is considerate enough to so place himself in 
relation to them as to receive his share, it is well; 
or if, on the contrary, when they are dispensing 
their calamities, one is shrewdly prudent enough to 
evade their hurt, it is also well. One must take his 
chances and abide by his lot, whatever it may prove 
itself to be. 

Xow, in all candor let us ask which is the more 
satisfying and consoling view: That of the men of 
Athens before whom Paul stood, or that afforded 
by this notion of general laws as entertained by our 
own Christian and philosophic age? Por, whatev- 
er else may be said of their gods, they were at least 
supposed, according to the views of the Athenians, 
to have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to 
feel; and, as such, they might be appealed to for 
help, and cried unto in the hour of distress, with a 
hope that they would lend their aid and sympathy 
in behalf of helpless, suffering mortals. But not so 
with these general laws; they have no eyes to see, 
no ears to hear, no heart to feel. Xo cry of distress 
shall ever arrest their attention, no piteous wailings 
shall ever cause them to halt or deviate a jot or tit- 
tle from their course. Eight onward they move 
with the inevitable precision of a dreadful machine, 
falling wherever it may be, with all their weight, 
and crushing with all their power. And is it pos- 
sible that our beautiful world, whose impress so 
vividly bears the stamp of wisdom, forecast, and 



276 Sermons by A. P. McFeerdj. 

gracious design, with its munificent provisions for 
inspiring interest and enjoyment to its countless 
tribes of living creatures, and the hopeful and lofty 
as] irings of the human family, with their ever-vary- 
ing wants and irrepressible sympathies and affec- 
tions, has been committed to such a guardianship — 
a mighty, complicated, insensate machine, called 

Let us understand each other. Of course, there 
is an appropriate and intelligent use for such terms 
when restricted to their legitimate meaning. All 
whether human or divine, whether pertaining 
to things natural or spiritual, can originate only as 
an established rule oi procedure, prescribed by the 
supreme authority governing in the sphere to which 
it is applicable. As such it can exist only as the 
expressed will oi its Author, and ceases to be when 
that will is withheld. What, then, are these laws 
: the universe but God's own ways of accomplish- 
ing his purposes? A law is not an entity, and aside 
from the lawgiver is nothing. TTe cannot ration- 
ally conceive of laws and them- 
selves. Manifestly, they must be but the emanations 
of an Intelligence that wills therm of a Power that 
utes them. 
With this recognition of the laws of nature as 
being the veritable rulings of the Creator him* 
we hail them with a trustful and thankful heart as 
the manifest evidence of his presiding presence and 
•rving care: knowing that, by and through in- 
finite wisdom and goodness, they are bi : subserving 
t possible welfare oi our world, and the high- 



Paul at Athens. 2 



. . 



est happiness of the human family. If these laws 
are general and uniform in their character, that fact 
only the more clearly shows them to be the rulings 
of the great I AM — the "same yesterday, to-day, 

and forever." If they were otherwise, all earthly 
affairs would be so stamped with uncertainty as to 
defeat the great purposes of life; therefore God hath 
made them so because the interests and happiness 
of his creatures so require them to be, and no: t 
lighten the work of taking care of his universe. 
For, whether uniform or multiform, precisely the 
same ever-present, superintending power is requis 
to o'uide all things to their destined results. 

The sun that so majestically pursues his course 
through the heavens this hour, requires the same 
.ighty Power and skill to guide his way as on 
that first morning when he set out to run his cease- 
less rounds — nothing more, nothing less. And it 
should not be forgotten that, notwithstanding the 
regularities of nature's laws, there is still enough 
of uncertainty to assure us that we cannot tell what 
a day will bring forth, and that without him we can 
do nothing. We make our engagements in refer- 
ence to a future day, and that the appointed day 
will come in its course is sufficiently sure for ail 
practical purposes; but when it comes what will it 
bring with it? It will, in many respects, be like all 
the days which ever preceded it, but at the same 
time its events and issues will be in many regards 
peculiar to itself, affecting the destiny of millions 
of souls, and no human wisdom and power shall be 
able to control or evade the results. 



278 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

The universe, in the midst of which we find our- 
selves, and its sublime and glorious manifestations, 
unmistakably proclaim the presence and power of 
the Infinite Being. Great indeed is the knowledge 
thus gained, and fearfully and wonderfully made is 
the being who can apprehend it; nevertheless it is 
that fuller knowledge of him afforded only through 
revelation that can adequately meet the needs of the 
human soul, and give that assurance of hope and 
security essential to its peace — the God of the Bible, 
our Father in heaven, in whom the soul securely 
trusts and sweetly reposes. ""^ 

How inspiring are the words of His beloved Son, 
whom he has sent unto us, as he unfolds the near 
relation we sustain to him, of his love toward us, 
of his providential care in our behalf, of the tender- 
ness and loving-kindness of which that of earthly 
parents is but a feeble type, withholding no good 
thing from those who love him, numbering the hairs 
of their heads, and making all things to work to- 
gether for their good ! 

It was the sum and substance of some of these 
precious lessons which the apostle was endeavoring 
to impress upon the minds and hearts of the Athe- 
nians, and his declaration that it is "in him we live, 
and move, and have our being," is a most forcible 
expression of that absolute providence which attends 
every human being, and which pervades every de- 
partment of the works of his hands. 

Next in importance to the great gift of eternal 
life through His Son is the comforting assurance 
of his unceasing providential guidance. And its 



Paul at Athens. 279 

proper solution is that which, more than any thing 
most give steadiness to the aims and purposes 

of life, and, in the nature of the case, t : ::rnes the 
last resting-place when diseonsolation has nothing 

left. TThen failure has foreclosed every other 

avenue of hope, it stiil remains open: and when 

loin's shrewdest foresight falsities itself, it is 

here only tha: ;. last refage is found where the 
thoughtful mind reconciles itself to wait in patient 
stillness till the removal of the intervening veil shall 
liscover what is behind it. 

What does the subject of Providence involve? In 
brief simply this: The supervision which God exer- 
risee :. his creatures. And it may be asked, Who 
: jts the existence of such a supervision? 

It will be time enough to answer this when it 
shj . have been considered what such a supervision 
implies. There are intelligent persons ready enough 
tc give their explanations as to what it implies, but 
are such explanations as leave but little further 
of any great interest connected with the subject. 

I have heard the trite saying, '• Providence helps 
those who help themselves," repeated, with approv- 
al, from the sacred desk, with the sanction of un- 
doubted piety and learning. Helps those who help 
themselves! And is that the providence of the 
Heavenly Father? ^Vhat of those who cannot help 
themselves? Is Providence, then, on the strong 
side, or for that which appears to win, helping those 
who need it not; for where is the need, if such can 
help themselves? Can any of God's creatures, in- 
3eed 3 get on without him, and help themselves? 



280 Sermons by A. P. McFermx. 

Alas! there are millions ready to try the experi- 
ment. Who will undertake to point out when and 
in what any may help themselves? How does it 
come to pass that any one can or cannot help him- 
self? And does that fact, in either case, exclude 
Providence ? Why, surely, it may be said, one may 
" stretch forth his hand/' Yes; that is, unless it be 
"withered," in which case he cannot without help. 
But wherefore is any hand withered? Why are not 
all hands withered? How comes it that one has 
hands at all? Many creatures have none. Does 
the difference arise from the fact that some need 
them and others do not? Can any created being 
provide himself with hands? or having them already 
provided, can he preserve them? Just as readily 
the one as the other; for that which requires a 
Creator as necessarily requires a Preserver; else 
that which preserves itself might have created it- 
self. The power that can preserve is adequate to 
create, and creative power only can preserve that 
which is created. 

And it is in view of such necessity that reason 
and revelation alike declare a veritable, governing, 
and overruling Providence in all things. To say 
that any created thins: is too insignificant to claim 
this supervising care is an imputation against the 
wisdom that determined its existence. 

There are those who hold to the scheme of a gen- 
eral providence, yet discard the idea of that which 
is regarded as special; but it is difficult to discover 
any appropriate reason why the former might not 
be dispensed with as well as the latter. There is 



Paul at Athens. 281 

tainlv an incong in holding to the one and 

discarding the other, since that which requires to 

be pi - a whole no less requires to be pre- 

in all the parts which constitute the whole. 

Lall undertake to draw the line of 

demarkation between them? For what appears to 

general might, if the area of our vision were a 
. 1-fold enlarged, turn out to be special, while 
that regarded as special may, for aught we can say 
to the contrary, enter largely into the general econ- 
omy of the world's government. In reality, the 
terms gent ul and special, however applicable to the 
g of finite minds, can scarcely apply to that 

;h is infinite. In the exercise of our feeble 
I : . we are accustomed to arrange and classify 

»ts 3 particularize, and then generalize a proced- 

to assist our limited comprehension in getting 
clearer views of things which we seek to understand; 
but - should not suppose the same of Om- 

nifi jience. 

And yet it is perhaps safe to say that a general 
and indirect control of the universe only consti- 
tutes the most popular notion of the providential 
arrangement; like the watch-maker who constructs 
all the various pieces requisite to make his work 
: mj lete : adjusts and puts the whole together, wind.3 
up the watch, sets it going, and leaves it to run its 
course. But the world in which we live is any 
thing else than a mere dead weight; the whole cre- 
ation teems with life and energy; a restless vitality, 
the b ubtle workings of an ever-present power, per- 
vades the entire world. The elements of destruc- 



282 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

tion, whether in the realm of nature or the em] 
of spiritual wickedness, are sufficient, if left unre- 
strained and unguided but for a single day. t : -ight 
and wreck the world in hopeless ruin. To e 
all the vital forces appertaining to matter, mind, 
and spirit to be restrained and guided by a sort of 
mechanism, implies a machinery sc vast, so compli- 
cated, itself of such refined and subtle working-, as 
tc require a skill, a wisdom, a power, for its proper 
sight and direction, scarcely less than that at- 
tributed to the Almighty in the directer plan 
proper providence. 

One of the saddest errors that human:"" 
committed is the mistaken notion that God, having 
created all things, withdrew his presence only to 
behold, at an immeasurable distance, and with : ;■- 
casional concern, the works of his han*;.: and the 
operations of his grace. No wonder that this error 
should have begotten a felt loneliness of direful re- 
sults. Thus left without God and without hope in 
the world, it was doubtless an oppressive sense of 
this loneliness which brought about the supers::: - 
recourse to idols and intermediate gods, which it 
was vainly supposed might, in some degree, 
the lack, and being nearer within reach, fill up the 
aching void. 

How Infinite Wisdom open. ads and 

hearts of ail men; how he give t and bias to all 

human events, conducting their flow with unfailing 
precision to their destined results; how he apj r- 
tions the good and evil of this life, its enjo 
and sufferings, causing them to fall just when and 



Paul at Athens. 283 

where, and upon whom he may appoint, and to the 
degree — no more, no less — that he may designate: 
together with everything that concerns the destiny 
of his creation, can only be relegated to the domain 
of the wonderful, to be pondered, not explained. 

But though wonderful, they are none the less val- 
uable to us. By and through them we discern the 
presence of Him in whom we live, and move, and 
have our being. He who in creation "spake and it 
was done" still " commands and it stands fast." 
The wonders that then came to pass did not sur- 
pass those now transpiring. His rational intelli- 
gences may gaze with as much surprise at his won- 
derful works now as then. His creature man that 
walks forth to-day is as much a wonder as the man 
of paradise, for creation is no more marvelous than 
procreation. 

Lord, u how manifold are thy works! in wis- 
dom hast thou made them all; " and let his trusting 
children respond with grateful hearts because of 
his promise that all these shall work together for 
their good. The ways of Providence may some- 
times, to our narrow comprehension, seem to be se- 
vere, but a candid review of the case will show that 
the world is dealt by as leniently as its good will 
allow; for with all the evils it has to endure, it can 
scarcely be preserved from self-destruction by the 
force of its own folly and violence. Adversity may 
sometimes better subserve the desired outcome of 
the present life than prosperity; and suffering, rath- 
er than enjoyment, may prove a more efficient means 
for accomplishing the desired good. It is the bring- 



284 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

ing of good out of evil, light out of darkness, safety 
out of danger, that most vividly manifests to us the 
wisdom and protecting care of God. Humility and 
suffering become the stepping-stones to honor and 
joys, and though these might be attained through 
other means less trying, yet the very nature of the 
means employed enhances their value to us, and 
at the same time more vividly impresses us with a 
sense of his goodness and glory. We are liable to 
form wrong conclusions of what is really best for 
us, and have learned from experience that we have 
frequently erred in such conclusions. Matters which 
have caused disappointment and sorrow for a time 
afterward proved to be to our highest advantage. 
And such are the vicissitudes of human life that it 
often turns out that the time of darkness is only the 
prelude to brighter days than ever before; sickness 
is succeeded by unwonted health, and failure is fol- 
lowed by successes bringing far more than the for- 
mer prosperity. There is no truer way of honoring 
God than by trustingly committing all interests to 
his providential care, while it evinces a nobility of 
soul that will in due time receive abundant honors 
in return; for whatever is, shall be, or can be, in the 
end brings good to all who thus honor him. 



ETERNAL LIFE— WHAT IS IT? 



"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'' John xyii. 3. 

IN the world there are many religions, so called; 
but as there is but one true God, so there is but 
one true religion. It implies to bind anew, to unite 
again. Sin has separated the soul from God, and in 
this separation consists its mortal hurt. By virtue 
of creation the sinless soul was in vital relation with 
God, as the Father of spirits. This was the normal 
relation of the original man. By sin the tie that 
united him to God was severed. As a branch sev- 
ered from its parent stock perishes, because cut off 
from its source of life, so of the soul. The religion 
of Christ is to bind anew the soul to God. But this 
does not mean to unite the soul to God simply as it 
was in the beginning. Xo, the religion now offered 
implies far more than merely to repair the original 
hurt. This would involve the creation of another 
man, another race, instead of the reclamation of the 
lapsed and fallen one. 

The eternal life which inured by virtue of crea- 
tion, and perpetuated by obedience, was but a faint 
representation of that now offered by virtue of re- 
demotion. As the Son of God, in whom the hu- 
man and divine natures blend, is gloriously exalted 

(2S5) 



286 Sermons by A. P. McFerrix. 

above the first unfallen man, and as the celestial 
paradise prepared by Christ for those who love him 
transcends the earthly paradise of the unfallen man, 
so does the eternal life now bestowed transcend that 
which inured to man by virtue of his creation. 

Let us then endeavor to form some just appre- 
hension of the eternal life here presented for our 
consideration, It is not merely an existence to be 
continued forever, for to this end are all human 
souls created. Xor is it, as we may infer, only a 
never-ending happy existence, such perhaps as an- 
gels and unfallen rational intelligences in the wide 
domain of God may probably be invested with, but 
that peculiar type of eternal life that comes, and can 
only (£>me, through the special relation which we 
bear to Christ — a relation which in its essential 
features does not, in so far as we have the means of 
knowing, hold with any other creatures in the uni- 
verse of God. A future felicitous life in eternity 
does not of itself express the idea of that eternal 
life of which Jesus here speaks. It is a life with 
God in Christ, bestowed by Christ as the result of 
some special power "given him over all flesh," and 
by which its inheritors are so "in" God and Christ 
and Christ "in" them as is possible perhaps for no 
other created beings, and never possible to unfallen 
man by any inheritance possessed by him by virtue 
of his creation. Such is the eternal life which has 
been bought for us by Christ. As glorious as it is, 
it is made not only possible but free for every soul 
of man, and is the only one that is possible. It is 
not a choice between this eternal life and some other 



Eternal Life— What is It? 287 

• 

type of it, though of a far inferior kind; it is this or 
none, for none other is possible. 

As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he 
given unto the Son to have life in himself; "in him 
is life, and the life is the light of men." He is the 
source and fountain of our spiritual life. Taking 
upon himself our nature, he is "God with us" that 
we in him and by him may be with God. This, 
then, is eternal life — to know God as we maj' know 
and can only know him through Christ. "JN r o 
man," saith Jesus, "knoweth the Father save the 
Son and he to whom the Son shall reveal him; " and 
of all possible knowledge it is just this that most 
essentially concerns us. It implies far more than 
that general knowledge which all rational creatures 
may have of him as the Creator and upholder of all 
things, and which is in a measure common alike to 
the evil as well as the good. Even the devils doubt- 
less know him as the only true God. Rebellious 
men recognize him as Sovereign of the universe, 
and often tremble in view of the doom awaiting 
them in the unseen future. But the knowledge of 
him as the Father of mercies and of infinite love — 
love embracing even a sinful world — can be attained 
unto only as revealed by his Sou. 

The idea of a future life of some sort is as old as 
the human race, and has in some way been enter- 
tained by all peoples. The notions of it are very 
much controlled by the hopes and fears of men; 
and whether it shall be one of happiness or misery 
is tbe anxious question w r hich so much troubles their 
souls. And besides, the question is further embar- 



.288 Sermons ey A. P. McFbrrik. 

rassed by the vagueness of what constitutes ha] 
ness and what misery: and a godless world has no 
standard by which the matter may be determined, 
for that whieh might be esteemed as happiness by 
some would only prove to be detestable to others. 
In so far as the bodily sensations are concerned, these 
find an early cessation in the grave. But what of 
the spiritual man — the soul, the thinking, perceiv- 
ing, emotional man — as he finds himself severed 
from earth and an inhabitant of eternity? The 
pleasures and pains of sense, which so largely en- 
gaged the attention of the earthly life, are now 
numbered with the irrecoverable things of the past, 
and for the resource of happiness the soul must 
look elsewhere. That a beneficent Providence has 
invested the earthly life with many resources of en- 
joyment is a fact that calls for our grateful recog- 
nition; but these for the most part, like the earthly 
life itself, are evanescent, and were never designed 
to satisfy those aspirations of the human soul for 
which no material surroundings are sufficient. The 
importance of material surrounding-, indeed, is not 
to be depreciated; nevertheless, observation and ex- 
perience show that most of the happiness and mis- 
ery of the present life does not depend on the sur- 
roundings, for misery often reigns in the midst of 
those of the most favorable character, while happi- 
ness triumphs when environed by those of the most 
adverse nature. How much our tastes, preferences, 
and habits may contribute to these results does not 
affect the real facts of the case: and these facts show 
that the world has no standard by which to deter- 



t L:ti— Whai is ItI :2S9 

mine what happiness or misery is, . I 

tich loes Dot leave as still 
g the high of the one and 

dreading poaentation ;; the ::.::. 

a I at : ; | :— il Ic sc arc ; :: r the hapj i- 
- : ; : gs f the human sc al, 

and that sour: is Found in God himself; and its 
ouly mediam of — is in Christ, and this fact in 

itself is the highest compliment that Hes :»nld 

best v on man. 
An essentia] 
si ming power of _ all its recipients shall 

ires brought intc Feet harm 

. As Jesus exj resses it, "As 

thou, ad I in thee, : I th also 

in as.' 3 I, it is to be irk Christ 

and rist; yman have not the Sv:::: 

rist, he is ne of his. 

Such are the unity and harmony essential tc eter- 

nal life, ai ssil ;: beii g affected only in Christ 

and by virtue him over "all 

tc this end. Whose, then, is sternal life? 

Those re Christ's, and know God as ouly 

Christ can reveal him. 

leof the grt ptic d : s "God 

manifested the flesh.* 3 He umilia- 

: : ;:; o: :ho ?;•:; o: God :o lissv.'.v.o :'.; iovres: :-.::i 
basest part ::" man's nature, the flesh! — the flesh 
: lusteth against the Spirit^ filled, with warring 
passions, and gro 1 aling in the lepti - >f vileness! 
But with the deep humiliation there was the be- 
stowment rail flesh;' 3 and the great 

19 



290 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

mystery of his being made flesh opens the way for 
another mystery — that of man, of sinful flesh, being 
so elevated as to become a " partaker of the divine 
nature." These two mysteries, which the wonder- 
ing angels desire to look into, foreshadow something 
of the greatness and glory of that eternal life which 
is being prepared for the unfortunate and unhappy 
race of sinful man. 

The sympathy and concern of Jesus for the mis- 
ery of human flesh is one of the striking features 
of his earthly ministrations. He had a pitying eye 
for human woes in their most repulsive forms. The 
contorted face, the twisted limbs, the bleared eyes, 
the loathsome leprous form, ever found a welcome 
admission to his presence and a share of his tender- 
est concern. The poor flesh! sin had corrupted, 
ruined it; but himself having been made flesh, he 
would now lift it from its lowest depths, and not 
only elevate it to the heights of beauty and honor 
from which it had fallen, but exalt it to a celestial 
inheritance more glorious than eye had seen, or ear 
heard, or of which the heart of man had conceived. 
Creative power had raised it from the dust, and 
invested it with beauty and thrilling delights; but 
redeeming love will now secure for it an exaltation 
as far transcending its pristine condition as the man 
Christ Jesus transcends the original man, or the 
heavenly excels the earthly paradise. Surely, if 
there be more glorious worlds than that which is 
being prepared for the lovers of Christ; if there be 
created intelligences in the universe of God who 
occupy more coveted positions than are assured to 



Eternal Life — What is It? 291 

them, then thev must be far beyond the raiwe of 
human conception. To be with Christ and like him, 
and become joint heirs of God with him, leaves 
nothing beyond for the most exuberant imagina- 
tion. 

From this view of the matter, it would indeed 
look like the last becoming first, and the least great- 
est; but since it is all of grace, where is the incon- 
gruity of it? Unquestionably one has the right to 
do with his own as he pleases. The fact that eter- 
nal life is by inheritance through grace is that 
which magnifies its greatness and glory. But 
strange as it may be, this consideration is the great 
stumbling-block in the way of sinners. All men 
desire to be sayed, but not through Christ. They 
desire to be saved from hell, but Christ offers to 
save them from sin; and the difference between 
those two things is as great as that between light 
and darkness. The error in the minds of many 
seems to be that the difference between the saved 
and the lost mainly depends on the place to which 
they are assigned — heaven or hell. On the contrary, 
Jesus plainly tells us that hell is prepared for the 
" devil and his angels,'** but for those whom he has 
redeemed, a " kingdom;'" so those who will go to 
hell shall take up their abode in a place never de- 
signed for them. 

Heaven is not made impossible, as some seem to 
think, simply because its doors are barred against 
them; for even if admitted within, there could be 
no heaven to them without the spirit of Christ — 
that moral fitness, that wedding garment — to make 



292 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

its appreciation and enjoyment possible. The nat- 
ural man has no relish for the things which are 
purely spiritual and holy. All experience and ob- 
servation ill the present life show an inbred distaste 
for such things — -a distaste which can be overcome 
only by a transformation of mind and affections, as 
the result of a hungering and thirsting after right- 
eousness, by which the natural man is subjected to the 
rulings of the spiritual man, the archetype of which 
is the man Christ Jesus. Were it otherwise, discord 
and unhappiness would arise in heaven because of 
the diversity of likes and preferences which would 
develop themselves. How could heaven, where 
Christ is all in all, be enjoyable to those whose tastes 
and habits, likes and dislikes, are so unlike to all 
things which pertain to him? It is the endless di- 
versity of views, preferences, and purposes, which 
their possessors are struggling to carry out, that 
makes our world so discordant and unhappy. And 
it must ever be so, as a result of the commingling 
of the good and evil; and one of the essential feat- 
ures of heaven is the gathering together in one all 
in Christ, from the least to the greatest, but no 
others, since the heaven he is preparing is neither 
suitable nor enjoyable to any bat such as are con- 
formed to his own likeness. 

Those who feel a personal interest in the great 
hereafter should bear these two things in mind: 
The first is that the only eternal life of which we 
have information is that which comes solely through 
Christ. And the second is that Christ himself, ac- 
cording to his own declaration, is "the door" of 



Eternal Life— What is It? 293 

admittance thereto. So our Lord represents some 
as coming up to heaven's door, saying, "Lord, open 
unto us;" but he replies to them, "I never knew 
you." They had not on the wedding garment, the 
robe of righteousness, the divine impress of his 
Spirit, the seal by which he recognizes them as his 
own trusting and sanctified children. Of course he 
had full knowledge of them as his creatures, to 
whom he had given life and its privileges and tem- 
poral blessings, over whom he had exercised his 
providential care, and whom he had invited and 
encouraged to seek and find eternal life in him. 
But this they had declined to do, and now seek en- 
trance to heaven not through him, but through 
some other door of which they had vaguely con- 
ceived. But in truth there is no such door as they 
ask to have opened. They seek admission by a way 
which is impossible, for in truth there is no such 
way. Their mistake is such as is perhaps frequently 
made. The door of heaven is this side of death, 
not beyond death. "The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand" — it is here — is "within you." "Come unto 
me," says Jesus, "I am the door;" come to-day — 
not after death. Death is the wide gate of admis- 
sion into eternity. Sinners die, and the gate-way is 
passed through. The saved through Christ do not 
die in the same sense. They have entered the king- 
dom of heaven on earth by Christ the only door. 
Christ in them the hope of glory is the dawning of 
eternal life already begun, and a passing through 
the valley of the shadow of death is but the fuller 
realization of its glorious fruition. "He that be- 



294 Sebmoss by A. P. MgFksbust, 

lieveth on me/ J says Jesus, "hath everlasting life" — 
not shall have, hut : ~ . "Because I live ye shall 

live also; and he that liveth and believeth in me 

shall never die." They sleep in Chris;, but lie not 
in the sense of those without Christ. Additional 
illustration is offered in the parable oi the rich man 
and Lazarus. There was an impassable gulf be- 
:n them, making a transition from the place of 
the one to that of the other impossible. The door 
of the kingdom of heaven was in the world — the 
world from which they had already leparted, the 
world in which the price of redemption had 
paid, the world where the offers ;: eternal life 
been widely proclaimed, and where the kingdom of 
God was at hand with open door; and now to re- 
trace the steps back through death tc life again 
could not be. So: men are not so much shut : at 
from heaven bv its door beinsr barred against them, 
but rather they are left without because they will 
not enter by the only possible door. 

Wicked people in this world know of Qod as 
Creator, Sovereign, and Judge, but not as a gra- 
cious II mly Father, as he is kn : wn to those 
trust in Christ; and so, it m : ;. they 

will also know him in eternity: but only fear and 
trembling come of such knowledge. Sin separates 
them from a realizati I his loving-kindness, 

whence comes the enjoyment of his 
without which heaven ceases to be heaven. While 
in t: 'hey are without G 

in this world, which beyond death means without 
God ithout hope in el thout Christ, 



Eternal Liee — What is It! - ' 

the only medium of union, the separation m 
tinue forever; and this separation itself, we may in- 
fer, is the main source of their unhappy condition. 
The pleasures of sense in this life are the g it stitutes 
for God; but death ends these, and with no re- 
sources of spiritual enjoyment, only the lingering 
gloom of eternity remains. I beseech you, there- 
fore, " by the mercies of God, that ye present y : i 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, 
which is your reasonable service." . d any over- 
ture possibly be more reasonable or honorable? 



THE GOSPEL COMMISSION, 



Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto me in ad in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all 

nations, 1 : : _ them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to ohserve all things what- 
I have von ; and, lo, I am with yon alway, even 

unto the end of the II thew xxviiL 18-20. 

IX the ;_h : that he vr^ I r:; : yed. our Lord. 

in a vei and tender interview with his 

disciples, told them that they were about to be scat- 
ters \ — = :•< tt _/-. I br ;ad as sheep vhthou: a sh -the: I 
— bui^ he added, "I will meet you again after I 

:.." The yr-dietiou vras rearhahy :"-h_zhea 
:e".v ; ;Le: iter; they were h/.deed si-attered 

abroad. And now, according to the appointment 

hit, they are met again 

i Galilee. How moment- 

Lrred since their last 

ting! _ :ie from the garden of Geth- 

semane to Pilate :a Pilate's bar he had gone 

to tl >ss he had gone to the 

.he had come forth, and now 

I in tl He had paid the 

great pri 

and end to the right-hand 

of the H jvereign Lord of all. 

) invest his 



The Gospel Commission. 297 

disciples with their commission to carry out the 
work he had thus made ready to their hands. 

Hitherto, the great begun work had been limited 
to the narrow confines of the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel, but the commission with which he 
now invests them extends to all nations; the bar- 
riers which had heretofore circumscribed the sphere 
of their operations were removed, and henceforth 
the word was no longer to be bound by mountain 
or sea; but wheresoever the habitation of man was 
to be found, thither was the message of peace and 
reconciliation to be borne. The redemption he had 
wrought was for all peoples, of all ages; and the 
story of the cross, with the ineffable glories suggested 
thereby, was to be rehearsed till the isles of the sea 
and the uttermost parts of the earth should learn 
to echo its pleasing strains. 

On the occasion which the sacred narrative has 
thus brought before us, all "the eleven disciples" 
w T ere present — Judas, who had gone to his own place, 
alone beins; missing. When Jesus had at the first 
called them into his service, the word then was, 
"Come and learn of me;" but this time it is varied — 
the mandate now is, " Go and teach." The term 
teach as here employed implies, in its stricter sense, 
disciple — that is, "Go and make disciples of all na- 
tions; make them followers of me; indoctrinate them 
into the divine truths you have received of me; let 
them learn of my dying love, of my rising power, 
of my interceding grace; baptizing them into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." 



298 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Such was the commission they were to bear to 
the nations — nations that had become abominably 
corrupt, and given up to idolatry and debasing 
superstition. Great indeed, then, becomes the des- 
ignated work; since to cause the nations to forsake 
their idols and abominations for the pure and spir- 
itual worship of the triune God would be to effect 
a most wonderful transition, so wonderful that the 
contemplation of it might stagger their confidence; 
but they were not to forget that the gospel they 
were sent to proclaim w T as of power sufficient to 
win its way anywhere and everywhere that a seri- 
ous and attentive hearer could be found; and when 
found, baptism would w r ell serve as both a test and 
a help to the idolater in deciding him to forsake his 
idols in obedience to the gospel call, since the main 
work to be done, as here pointed out by our Lord, 
evidently is to make disciples, baptism serving as a 
help thereto, as means to an end. 

The first step toward the kingdom of God has 
ever been the most difficult; and whether it be, as 
in the case of the heathen who forsakes his idols, 
or the prodigal who abandons his vices, this forsak- 
ing of all for the hope inspired by the gospel is 
evidently that first step to be taken without which 
all else will be unavailing. And it is just here that 
the humble inquirer needs special help and encour- 
agement; and baptism affords the occasion for an 
overt and formal " renouncement of the devil and 
all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world," 
for the higher hopes inspired by God's holy w T ord; 
and as an attestation of the decision and choice 



The Gospel Commission. 299 

thereby declared, baptism invests its recipient with 
the badge of the Christian profession, whereby he 
becomes a Christian in name, though not as yet in the 
higher sense of the term as implied in diseipleship — 
"If ye continue in my word/' says Jesus, "then shall 
ye be my disciples indeed." Investing an army recruit 
with the proper uniform and enrolling his name on 
the muster-roll will make him a soldier in name, 
but not as yet a soldier indeed; he is now ready for 
the drill and to be instructed in the appointments 
and services of his new calling, and when he shall 
have attained unto these, then, with courage proved 
amidst dangers and endurance tested by hard- 
ships, he becomes a soldier indeed. So baptism is 
not properly diseipleship, but a step thereto, as 
means to an end; nor must they be confounded. 
Diseipleship is not in order to baptism, but baptism 
in order to diseipleship; nor is either the one or the 
other to be interpreted as meaning personal salva- 
tion — the act or thing that saves. This power rests 
alone in Christ. His apostles and ministers might 
go forth in his name and baptize, disciple, teach, 
but salvation becomes a personal matter between 
the believing soul and Christ himself; and to this 
end is his promise, "Lo, I am w r ith you/' 

Baptism, as here designated, would seemingly 
serve as a line of demarkation between heathen- 
ism and Christianity, as in its modified use it 
serves as a discriminating line between the world 
and the Church of Christ, and as a sign and seal of 
a newly begun life in which regeneration and sancti- 
fying grace are assured to him who by faith shall 



300 Sermons by A. P. McFerkin. 

continue steadfast to the end. Its subjects are 
thereby made ready for the further and all-impor- 
tant work pointed out by our Lord, namely, " Teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you;" thus embracing the whole scope 
of doctrine and duty inculcated by the gospel 
whereby it becomes manifest that the end contem- 
plated by the Christian life is usefulness as w T ell as rec- 
titude — a life the light of which is to shine, the good 
works of which are to lead others to glorify God. 

Here, then, opens up a field wide enough to em- 
ploy the energies of his ministering servants till the 
end of time. But as wide as the field is, it has its 
well-defined boundaries; for the commission which 
says " Go and teach" also gives the subject-matter 
of what that teaching is to be: " Whatsoever I have 
commanded you." Outside of this, the minister 
has no right to go in His name. The traditions and 
commandments of men have no right to obtrude 
themselves here; and all attempts to foist them into 
place and position, however plausible the pretext, 
have ever engendered confusion to the hurt of edi- 
ification. On the contrary, " Whatsoever I have 
commanded," saith the Master, " that teach." Let 
the faith that works by love and purifies the heart, 
with its cognates, be the lesson to be learned; let 
the awards of the wisdom which is from above be 
the coveted honors; and let the spirit which ani- 
mates and moves all be the spirit of Christ, with- 
out which none can be his. Here, truly, is teach- 
ing worthy of being taught; here are lessons worthy 
of being learned. 



The Gospel Commission. 301 

Such is the simple process devised for the con- 
quest of all nations; and let none fear that the 
means may prove inadequate to so great results. 
To the casual observer the prospect may seem 
gloomy; nevertheless, the good begun work shall 
go on. He who hath said u Go" is authority from 
which there is no appeal; no unseen contingencies 
obscure the end open to his vision from the begin- 
ning; the conflict with the powers of darkness may 
be prolonged and severe, but of the ultimate tri- 
umph none may doubt. 

Our Lord, as it were in anticipation of the timid- 
ity of some and the doubts of others in regard to 
the success of his cause over the nations, gives a 
quietus to all such doubts and fears by two assuring 
considerations: The first is given in the declaration, 
"Lo, I am with you alway;" and the other in the 
declaration that "all power is given me in heaven 
and in earth." It is specially observable that our 
Lord, after first declaring the fact to his disciples 
that all power was "given" him, adds, "Go ye 
therefore," as if the power thus given him furnished 
the fact as explanatory of his reason and purpose 
of thus sending them forth; and that the power 
thus given had special reference to the accomplish- 
ment of the great work they were now appointed 
to undertake. The power of which he here speaks 
as having been given him is that, it may be supposed, 
which inures to him by right of redemption. As 
the Eternal Tv ord, all things were made by him ; 
and as Creator, all power and authority rested in 
him, by virtue of creation, from the beginning; but 



S02 Sermons by A. P. McFerpjn. 

now the world is his by the additional tenure of 
redemption — having given himself a ransom for it, 
and thus bought all with a price, he henceforth is 
Proprietor of his " purchased possession," and rules 
and reigns as the "one Mediator" "between God 
and men," and as such God the Father "hath put 
all things under his feet" till "all things are sub- 
dued unto him;" God the Holy Ghost broods over 
all to quicken, to sanctify, to save — through him; 
and angels adoringly recognize him as Sovereign 
Lord of all, and wait with ready wing to execute 
his royal mandates. Thus "God hath highly ex- 
alted him, and given him a name which is above 
every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, 
.and things under the earth; and hath raised him far 
above all principality, and power, and might, and 
dominion." This investiture of "all power" will 
continue till the great drama of the world's redemp- 
tion is completed and time shall be no more. 

The mediatorial reign, under which we have been 
called into existence, seems to mark a peculiar 
period in the annals of eternity, fraught with results 
and interests of eternal consequence; and probably 
many of the strange things and mysterious provi- 
dences which so much perplex the minds of men, 
and into which the angels desire to look, may find 
their ultimate solution in the peculiarities connected 
therewith. With what deep anxiety has the human 
mind sought to find an explanation for the strange 
intermixture of evil and good as found in our 
world! Why is it that crime and cruelty are suf- 



The Gospel Commission. 803 

fered to triumph over innocence and to continue to 
go forth, as it were, unrestrained and unchallenged 
as the destroyers of earth's peace and happiness? 
"Wherefore this long-suffering of Heaven when, at 
the sovereign beck, the thunder-bolts of retribution 
are ready to let fly at the mark, when vengeance 
calls aloud for justice? Let us look for answers to 
these questions in the fact that He who once suf- 
fered now reigns; that it is the Man of sorrows who 
is now King of kings and Lord of lords; and in 
this fact may be afforded the key which shall un- 
lock the mysteries bound up in the strange provi- 
dences attending human affairs. The forbearance 
of Him who, while a sojourner on earth, could en- 
dure the contradiction of sinners, and the boundless 
sympathies and love then manifested in behalf of a 
sinful world, still abound in unwasted fullness. In 
his glorified humanity his essential nature is still 
the same; and as "this same Jesus'' — the Triend of 
sinners — he rules in heaven and earth to- carry out 
the great work of his redemption, and therefore in 
long-suffering awaits the fruits of his labor and 
sacrifice. 

Humanity is dreadfully fallen, but humanity may 
rise again; amid the moral wreck and ruin, the 
throbbings of life are still discernible; others may 
despair, but he sees there is hope; some may say, 
4 * Who shall show us any good?'* but he knows 
when and how the good shall appear; and the night 
may seem long and dreary, but the brightness of 
his coming is none the less sure. Yes, bad as our 
world is, it is worth saving; there is a priceless 



804 Sermons ey A. P. McFerpjx. 

value that still inheres in the immortal soul; and, 
thanks be unto God, help is laid upon " One that is 
mighty ;? to save! 

Go, then, ye heralds of this great salvation. Go 
with courage and with confidence: let the bowed 
head be lifted op; let the faint heart gather new 
strength; and for the rest, confide all to Him who 
hath said, u Go^ Where your sufficiency ends. His 
begins; yours is the work of a season soon passing 
away, but he abides evermore. Your strength may 
fail, and you soon may fall, but the message you are 
commissioned to bear shall nevertheless continue to 
be nothing less than the power of God unto salvation. 
Then, go forth in the might of Him who hath said, 
"Lo, I am with you.'' But go where': Anywhere, 
everywhere; venture out freely, without compass, 
without measuring-chain, without tear of meeting 
a case too hard for the gospel you preach: for the 
charter under which you work authorizes you to 
say that 

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal; 

that sin has no sting that may not be extracted: 
that death and the grave have no dominion which 
shall not be broken. Then, go : as you go, preach — 
crying from the height of every hill-top and from 
the depth of every valley to every passer-by. "Be- 
hold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
the world!" 

How inspiring the hopes, how assured the confi- 
dence here afforded, not only to the ministers of 
Christ, but to all his humble followers who are striv- 
ing through him to the attainment of a higher and 



The Gospel Commission. 305 

better life! For He who reigns with all power in 
heaven and earth reigns to conquer in their behalf; 
and in all times, in all places, and under all circum- 
stances, it shall be well with them. All things are 
directed, controlled, and overruled for their good, 
so that whatever comes to pass brings good to them. 
The gospel shall triumph, and all the ends of the 
earth shall witness the glories of his salvation: and 
earthly potentates, thrones, and principalities shall, 
in mercy or wrath, contribute their power in a way 
to subserve the end and to complete the final ac- 
count. For "the earth is his and the fullness there- 
of, the world and they that dwell therein:''' and if 
the earth quake, the sea roar, the mountains shake, 
the thunders roll, they are but the echoes of his 
almighty fiat. Yea, it is in behalf of his own 
chosen heritage that he wields the power of his ad- 
ministration, whether in nature or grace; and to this 
end nations rise or fall, and misrhtv heroes &0 forth 
on their appointed missions, while upheavals, com- 
motions, wicked men and devils, are overruled as so 
many agencies in his hands, to perfect the glories 
of his redemption. He -sitteth King forever, 7 ' and 
the sway of his sovereignty is absolute; "his an- 
gels are spirits and his ministers a flame of fire:*' 
at his own girdle hang the keys of death and hell; 
" he opens, and no man shuts ; he shuts, and no man 
opens ; " who, then, shall lay any thing to the charge 
of his elect? and who shall be able to pluck them 
out of his hand? They are led by a guide that never 
misdirects, controlled by a wisdom that never mis- 
takes, defended by a power at the presence of which 
20 



306 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

"the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll/* 
and the " elements melt with fervent heat." Within 
the pale of his sovereign protection, there is abso- 
lute safety; and all things, great or small, are so 
overruled as to work together for good to them 
that love him. Success or failure, health or sick- 
ness, life or death — whatever is, shall be, or can be 
— shall contribute to this end. 



THE GREAT HEREAFTER. 



"It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 1 John iii. 2. 

" First . . . that which is natural ; and afterward that which is 
spiritual." 1 Corinthians xv. 46. 

WE find ourselves in the midst of a creation 
which teems with life, in forms so diversi- 
fied and so numerous as to be beyond computation. 
Every living creature, whether small or great, pur- 
sues its bent of life with interest and intensity, and 
in its every form, lower than the plane occupied by 
man, seems to accomplish its destiny satisfactorily. 
It is only man, standing in the midst of this crea- 
tion, that looks out with inquiring gaze, demanding 
to know what of it all, whence its origin, what its 
purpose. But these questions only prepare the way 
for others of still intenser interest. He asks, and 
rests not till the answers come, "What of myself? 
what is my destiny? what relation do I bear to the 
universe? what interest have I in this great crea- 
tion? In a word, he presses the inquiry to know 
ivhat he is and what he is to be. JSTor can these 
questions be satisfactorily disposed of by setting 
them down to the account of impertinence; for their 
repression implies a stupidity a thousand-fold more 
forbidding than the persistency with which they are 
pressed. 

The mind that conceives and dare ask such ques- 

(307) 



308 Sermons by A. P. McFermn. 

tions, thereby shows itself worthy of answer; not 
only so, but the manifold wisdom everywhere dis- 
played in the visible creation invites, rather than 
forbids, these pressing inquiries. And though the 
answers thereto may be delayed, this fact does not 
signify that they will not be afforded. What we 
shall be does not yet appear, but shall in due time. 
The desired end may not be arrived at suddenly, 
but progression in that direction, though long, may 
be continuous and successful. Though we may long 
to penetrate the veil that intercepts the future, yet 
we are able to discover the wisdom of the arrange- 
ment which will not prematurely permit the coveted 
discoveries. 

If the maturer views of life which belong to the 
ripe age of three-score years and ten were suddenly 
thrust upon the days of childhood and youth, the 
results would without doubt prove highly disas- 
trous. If the glories of the future life were made 
palpable to human sense, the result would doubtless 
defeat the great and important purposes of the 
present. The future life, into the nature of which 
the mind so intensely desires to look, is not so much 
withheld from view, but rather we have not arrived 
at the position possible to behold it. It does not 
recede from our approach, but rather the approach 
is encumbered with numerous objects which, more 
than it, demand our present concern. Besides, the 
vast difference in the nature of the present and 
future state must be taken into the account. Our 
senses are not sufficiently acute to apprehend many 
of our present surroundings. The telescope shows 



The Great Hereafter. 809 

us that our unassisted vision takes in but a little of 
the vast realities just beyond; while the microscope, 
turned in the other direction, reveals an interesting 
world impalpable to the unassisted sense. Indeed, 
the main-springs that give force to the natural world 
lie hidden from our view. Electricity and gases, 
with their latent power, are beyond the cognizance 
of the senses — we detect their presence by the ef- 
fect which they cause. How much more shall that 
which is spiritual elude the grasp of that which is 
natural! 

The out-^ivinsrs of the creation on w T hich we £aze 
show that progression is the order everywhere. 
Nothing is at a stand -still; all is moving on and 
onward to new conditions which will in due time 
manifest themselves. Science teaches that the 
changes in the material world, in the ages gone, 
have been many and great; and revelation gives us 
intimations of still greater changes to which it is 
rapidly approaching. The heavens shall be rolled 
together as a scroll, the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat, and from the universal conflagration 
shall come forth new heavens and a new earth. If 
such changes await our habitation, the question 
anxiously presses itself, What of its inhabiters? 
Whatever of these changes, the present state of 
things as to them will soon have passed away. If 
the light continues to shine, it will not be for their 
eyes; if sweet melodies float out on the ambient air, 
they shall not be for their ears; the current of life 
shall soon stand still, and a pause of silence and 
darkness ensue. But is this really a pause? or is it 



810 Sermons by A. P. MgFekbul 

a step in advance in the progression of being that 
has only gotten beyond the range of our view? 

How wide is the intervening gap between infancy 
and well-matured age! What advances in wisdom. 
knowledge, power! Yet this position, ander the 
present order of things, can be reached only by the 
successive steps of childhood, youth, and the various 
stages that mark the progress of life — a life which 
thus far shows development in its various stages. 
from the less to that which is greater, similar ro the 
development which marks the law of progress every- 
where; and shall we conclude that that progress 
has made its last step because our range of vision 
does not reach beyond? If the mountain before us 
shuts out from our sight all beyond, shall we there- 
fore conclude that there is nothing open to the vis- 
ion of him who may be standing on its summit? 
If the present life has its stages from infancy to old 
age, why may it not itself, taken as a whole, consti- 
tute only a step in the progress of existence? Tea. 
this is the very point to which revelation directs 
our attention. "It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be' 1 — and why? Because "that which is nat- 
ural 93 is first, "and afterward that which is spirit- 
ual." Whether the process here indicated — from 
natural to spiritual — be the universal rule pertain- 
ing to created intelligences, we have no means of 
knowing. That there are orders and ranks of 
purely spiritual intelligences — of angels, cherubim. 
and seraphim, basking in the full fruition of a hap- 
py existence — none may doubt; but whether th 
like man. began their career by fir i og through 



The Great Hereafter. 311 

the natural life, is a matter beyond the present range 
of our knowledge. However this mav be, it is the 
process appointed for man, whereby a pupilage in 
that which is natural becomes the introduction to 
that which is spiritual. Xature may indeed have 
its asperities, and exact a tribute of suffering from 
every form of life clothed with its apparel; never- 
theless, it also has its numerous tokens of fondness 
and loving-kindness, which are freely bestowed on 
the life it nourishes with a tender motherhood; so 
that the pleasurable emotions and thrilling delights 
flowing from its exhaustless fountains more than 
compensate for its occasional severities. Creation 
displays the glorious handiwork of its great Crea- 
tor, while man, the beholder — himself the highest 
type of creative skill — becomes a sharer in its joys 
and glories to an extent perhaps impossible to cre- 
ated intelligences who have never been thus identi- 
fied with the natural world; and an experimental 
knowledge thus gained by an identification with 
the natural universe, which so s;reatlv magnifies the 
power and wisdom of its Creator, has in it, as may 
readily be believed, an outcome of profit to its pos- 
sessor which would otherwise be impossible. Be- 
sides, in that great mystery of godliness whereby 
'•the "Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us/ 3 
"that which is natural*' henceforth points the way 
to an exaltation of being of inestimable excellence. 
While, therefore, such a life may have its present 
disabilities, as compared with the future spiritual 
life, it has at the same time enhancing considerations 
of the highest import. Childhood has its restric- 



812 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

tions, as compared with the enlarged sphere of ma- 
turer years, yet who can fail to see how greatly the 
present life would be depreciated if that season of 
precious memory could be skipped over. 

It is quite certain that the change which death 
brings involves a wholly different mode of being; 
but just what that mode is constitutes the gist of 
the anxious and pressing inquiry, and death alone 
rends the veil so as to give an unobstructed view 
of its nature. The light afforded by analogy aud the 
occasional bright glimmerings of revelation are all 
that are at present available, Nevertheless, the signs 
are propitious and hopeful. The vehicle by which 
the present mode of being is operated is in a " nat- 
ural body," which is to be substituted in the future 
mode by a " spiritual body."' What the latter is, 
we may not as yet fully know. This much, how- 
ever, is plain, that the infirmities inherent in the 
former have no relation to the latter. The natural 
body is affected by natural laws; but a spiritual 
body must be wholly connected with spiritual laws, 
whatever these may be. The power of gravitation, 
the rigor of adverse seasons, the instruments of 
present bodily suffering, have no place here. The 
eye, which now sees only " through a glass darkly," 
and the other senses, so much obtunded by the gross- 
ness which pervades the present fabric, will, it may 
be reasonably inferred, have a range and power 
transcendently beyond what the telescope, the mi- 
croscope, and other natural appliances at present 
afford. Besides, the spirit, disencumbered of the 
weaknesses to which flesh is heir, may find itself 



The Great Hereafter. 313 

the possessor of other senses which have no outlet 
under the incumbrances of the present. The phe- 
nomena afforded by dreams, somnambulism, visions, 
and numerous thaumaturgic manifestations so com- 
mon to the present life, indicate the presence of la- 
tent powers undeveloped as yet only for the want 
of more favorable conditions. 

Encumbered as the present mode of being is, the 
capacity for mental and moral improvement — a 
rising higher and higher in the scale of being — is 
perpetual and indefinite. It is only the natural 
body that shows the lack of a like capacity; 
but with the new adaptations of the future, the 
power to "soar to worlds on high" may likely 
prove to be far more than a poetic fancy. These 
enlarged capacities imply a coextensive enlarge- 
ment of the sphere of knowledge. How vast the 
acquirements in one short life -time, under ex- 
isting difficulties, may prove to be when properly 
and persistently directed! But with the removal 
of difficulties incidental to the present, so ample 
shall be the facilities then afforded us that we shall 
be enabled "to know even as we are known." And 
whatever else this inspired announcement may im- 
ply, the inference plainly is that the range of our 
knowledge shall be inconceivably enlarged, and that 
it shall be unencumbered with the obscurities which 
ever attend its present pursuit. If the soul thus in- 
vested with the advantages of its advanced position 
shall not be able "to bind the sweet influences of 
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion," it may likely 
well and readily know how this could be done. 



314 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

Both revelation and the intuitions of the human 
soul are the constant monitors to prompt us to the 
hopes and anticipations of futurity. The felt inter- 
ests that connect themselves with another world 
have affected the hopes and fears of all peoples of 
all ages. The power of forecast, with which the 
human soul is endowed, poinds to the realities and 
concerns of futurity; and so much is this the case 
that the prospect and certainty of immediate death 
seldom severs the interest which the dying still pos- 
sess even in regard to their earthly affairs which are 
to survive them; hence nothing is more common 
than arrangements thoughtfully made in view of the 
near presence of death, as expressed in formal wills 
which are to be duly recorded, or requests and special 
directions to be carried out after departure from the 
present life. Indeed, the power of forecast — the ca- 
pacity to anticipate a future life — is itself both the 
indication of its reality and a suitable outfit for it. 
The being capable of entertaining the thought of a 
future life, with yearnings of soul for its realization, 
thereby shows himself possessing adaptations for it, 
and a nobility of nature, given him by the Father 
of all, which entitles him to it. A felt interest, there- 
fore, in the conditions of the future, in its enjoy- 
ments and employments, is not only allowable but 
in eveiy way wise and good. Then, in regard there- 
to, we may indulge the liveliest anticipations, and 
ponder our own interests connected therewith; onl} r , 
however, with the sobriety which is in keeping with 
the solemnity and reverential regard becoming such 
humble and unworthy learners as dying sinners. 



The Great Hereafter. 315 

The employments and enjoyments of this present 
world constitute its main concerns, but these oft- 
times are incompatible with each other; indeed, to 
enter fully upon the latter often implies that # the 
former are for the present laid aside. Employ- 
ments, however necessary and useful, for the most 
part involve toils, difficulties, and anxieties; but in 
the future life we may safely conclude that it shall 
be otherwise. Then enjoyments shall be the ac- 
companiments of employments, and employments 
shall be the never-failing sources of enjoyments. 

Under our present economy, human agency is 
the great co-worker with Providence, so that well-di- 
rected intelligence subserves the greatest uses in the 
affairs of the present life. Indeed, it is human in- 
strumentality, under a permissive Providence, that 
leaves the impress of its blessings or its curses on 
all human affairs; and we may conclude the like 
instrumentality — proved, chastened, purified — may 
find a corresponding sphere of activities in the great 
hereafter. And if faithfulness in a "few things " 
here is to be followed by being made "ruler over 
many things" there, then the becoming of "kings 
and priests unto God" may indicate a range of em- 
ployment that may well awaken an indescribable 
interest. The "heavens that declare the glory of 
God," and "the firmament that showeth his handi- 
work," with their countless worlds and systems of 
worlds, ranging through boundless space, may call 
forth and utilize those noble capacities of soul which 
have been developed under the trying and suffering 
pupilage of the natural life; thus indicating an ex- 



316 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

tent of dominion of which the original dominion 
with which man was at first invested may be but a 
feeble type. The immortality which comes through 
redemption invests its possessor with an heirship in 
the things of him who is Father of all. His inter- 
est and delight, therefore, in the things of God, 
whether seen or unseen, shall know no abatement. 
The natural man inherits the present life by virtue 
of creation, but the future and higher life indicated 
by Christianity is made possible only through re- 
demption, necessitating death— or translation, its 
equivalent—in order to its realization. Earth con- 
stitutes the bounds of the natural man's sphere,. but 
with the adaptations of the future, it extends prob- 
ably to unnumbered worlds; and it may be the as- 
tonishing delight of the spiritual man, invested with 
his celestial capacities, in making the boundless cir- 
cuit opened up before him, to find each world he 
visits to have some wondrous story showing how 
the benign Father of all has granted to each some 
peculiar and endearing token of his infinite love; 
but he will hear from none that which surpasses his 
own story of redeeming love, nor catch glimpses of 
a more glorious immortality than that of which 
himself is possessed, and by which he is constituted 
a joint heir with Him who is "the first-born of 
every creature." 

The social aspect of the present life, with its un- 
dying attachments and endearments, has ever been 
prized as one of its most enhancing considerations; 
and in forecasting the prospects of the great future, 
the inquiry has pressed itself on millions of hearts, 



The Gee at Hereafter. 317 

whether the renewal and continuation of these may 
be reasonably anticipated. Shall we know each 
other there? Shall loved ones be again restored to 
us? Shall the ties of affection, so rudely interrupt- 
ed by death, find their reunion there? These, as 
samples of numerous others, are the anxious inqui- 
ries to which so many eager souls are awaiting an- 
swers. The social endearments of the present do 
indeed possess an intrinsic value beyond all compu- 
tation, and are in fact a necessity without which 
the aims and purposes of life could not be accom- 
plished; and but for the disabilities and infirmities 
which inhere in fallen humanity, and which limit 
them to such narrow bounds, how greatly would 
our world be blessed if they could be so extended 
as to embrace the whole human family! Sin sepa- 
rates man from God; it also separates man from 
man; and the associations and attachments of life 
find their chief obstacles in the barriers interposed 
by sin and human frailty. Christ's religion is the 
great restorer that binds man anew to God and man 
to his fellow -man: and the new commandment 
which Christ gives to all who love him is that 
they also "love one another." And if love to him 
as our common Head shall find its perfection in the 
world to come, then will the brotherhood of all who 
thus love him also find its completeness. The terms 
"strangers and pilgrims''' may sound naturally 
enough for earth, but we scarcely suppose them to 
be found in the vocabulary of the heavenly world. 
One of the peculiar difficulties under which we 
labor here is that our acquaintance is so limited, and 



318 Sermons by A. P. McFerrin. 

that we know each other so imperfectly; but there 
it shall be different, for we " shall know even as 
also we are known." Personal recognition, even in 
this life in its limited way, is one of the commonest 
and. lowest manifestations of knowledge. The " ox 
knoweth his owner;" and shall the capacity for 
personal recognition in the clearer light of the heav- 
enly world call tip a doubt, or even the remotest 
misgiving? Nay, the knowledge incident to the 
heavenly world, we may readily suppose, is such 
that at a glance by intuition every inhabiter shall 
know his fellow-inhabiter, and every inhabiter shall 
find himself bound to all others in the ties of affec- 
tion and endearment in a manner such as earth 
knows no means of adequately expressing. The 
fond and endearing names of father, mother, child, 
brother, sister, friend, shall find more than their 
sum total in every member of the heavenly family of 
Christ. Therefore, the indulgence of fond hopes for 
happy reunions and joyful restorations of loved ones 
beyond the vale of death has surely a reasonable 
basis upon which to rest, and in every way accords 
with those higher and purer principles of our nat- 
ure which find their origin in God, who in wisdom 
and goodness has seen fit to create that nature after 
his own image and likeness. And if these fond an- 
ticipations find a happy realization in the kindred 
and dear ones of the former life, surely the joys oc- 
casioned thereby will not be abated by the further 
realization that the circle of endearments, at every 
turn, is an cver-expanclitTg one that finds no limit 
and admits of no termination. 



The Great Hereafter. 319 

The heavenly world thus far is largely made up 
of children; and if heaven has a use for them cor- 
responding to that which they so briefly filled while 
on earth, then their presence must constitute one 
of the charming felicities of that blessed abode. 
Those who imagine them to have become grown-ap 
people, and that they shall so appear in the future 
state, may be laboring under quite a misapprehen- 
sion of the real state of the case. But for children, 
the social element of the present life would soon 
wither into utter dreariness; and to their never- 
ceasing presence those of mature life and of old age 
are mainly indebted for their serene enjoyment and 
cheerful spirit. And as we cannot see how the so- 
cial aspects of the present life could do without the 
children, there can be no incongruity in imagining 
a like importance for their presence in the future 
life. I love to think of heaven as radiant with the 
delight of the children that have been gathering 
there for so long a time. Yes, I love to think of 
them as yet being children in all that constitutes 
the loveliness of innocence, though in understand- 
ing and celestial intelligence challenging the admi- 
ration of the hosts of heaven. The mother, who 
grieved herself near unto death for the loss, as she 
called it, of her little babe, may have the delightful 
surprise, as she nears the eternal world, to find her- 
self being led by the hand of that babe, to be in- 
itiated into the appointments and appurtenances of 
the Father's house of many mansions. How de- 
lightful the thought that the children who have 
gone before may be cicerones to receive their Chris- 



o2Q Sermons by A. P. McFerkin. 

tian parents and guide them hither and thither, to 

point out to them the many good things prepared 
for them by the Father, and awaiting their coming! 
But think of it as we may. the realities of the 
situation will be tar beyond what eye hath seen, 
ear heard, or the heart of man conceived, of --the 
things which God hath prepared for them that love 
him." I confess to a special personal interest in 
this phase of the great hereafter. Think of the 
millions of homos that have surrendered their little 
ones to the keeping of Him who is preparing a place 
for the final gathering together of his loved ones, 
and of the many tearful eyes that are wistfully 
turned in that direction! 

But alas! shall we say how little, after all. can we 
know of the great hereafter! Xay. not so: but 
rather how precious Lire the anticipations which rise 
up before us! They are sufficient to inspire our 
highest hopes, and of the rest we shall soon know 
more fully. When the spiritual vision shall be fully 
opened, and the presence of things as yet unseen 
shall be realized, the probable surprises will be that 
we have failed to see. to hear, to understand, and to 
appreciate an estate already so near, and on the 
borders of which we have so long lingered, almost 
in hearing, almost in view, of its vivid realities. 



THE END. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





Hill II II Hill III ill 

017 658 486 5 



